Tonello highlights garment dyeing as a tool for circularity
Italy-based technology provider Tonello has highlighted its role in circular fashion by promoting its garment-dyeing specialities, which can enable brands to deal with unsold stock without rewashing or disposing of the garments, in line with the incoming Extended Producer Responsibility rules.
Its two technologies that make this possible are its natural dye Wake system and garment-dyeing process DyeMate.
Wake uses organic raw materials and vegetable waste such as plant matter, peels and fruit or vegetable rinds.
“We use the seven dyes with the highest wash and light fastness, including walnut husks and logwood,” Tonello’s marketing and sustainability manager, Alberto Lucchin, tells us. “The process is done without chemicals, and so at the end, it is completely compostable, so works with circular stories.”
DyeMate allows garment dyeing with indigo, as well as sulfur and vat dyes, in a single, low-temperature process.
EPR regulations in Europe – whereby brands will be financially liable for what happens to garments that don’t sell – is creating an impetus for refinishing stock. “The idea is to give new life to existing collections,” added Alberto. “By dyeing and colouring, instead of washing again, you can completely change the aesthetic without using as much energy, water and chemicals.”
