‘Eco-advanced’ alternative to fabric washing from Jeanologia and Archroma
Textile chemicals group Archroma has joined forces with specialist textile finishing technology developer Jeanologia to launch what they have called “an eco-advanced alternative” to the denim fabric washing process.
Traditional ways of cleaning denim fabric are washing and mercerising, which consists of treating it with caustic soda to obtain a more lustrous, flat and less reddish blue and black denim. With both methods, “multiple highly water-intensive washings are required”, the two companies have pointed out, to restore optimal fabric pH and remove unfixed dyestuff and impurities from the fabric. Impurities released in the washing process can, typically, include aniline, a substance that classified as a category-two carcinogen and considered toxic to aquatic life.
The alternative that Jeanologia and Archroma have devised combines the use of the latter’s Pure Indigo Icon dyeing system, in which aniline is below detection levels, and the former’s G2 Dynamic finishing technology, which offers water savings of up to 90%.
Commenting on this combination, Jeanologia’s business director for G2 Dynamic, Jean-Pierre Inchauspe, said it was another step towards changing “traditional, more polluting and water-consuming processes in the textile industry for new ones”.
He argued that using advanced technology can help denim producers to be more competitive, to increase productivity and offer high-quality products that are “completely sustainable”.
