Ralph Lauren has unveiled Colour on Demand, a new dyeing platform meant to transform how the fashion industry colours cotton. It makes the process more sustainable, more effective and faster than ever before. The platform will produce the first scalable zero wastewater cotton dyeing system, to enable recycling and reuse of all water from the dyeing process.
Every year, trillions of litres of water is used for fabric dyeing alone, generating around 20 per cent of the world’s wastewater. This untreated wastewater is polluting and traditionally required rigorous, lengthy and costly treatment to make the water reusable. Designed to help address water scarcity and pollution caused by cotton dyeing, Colour on Demand is a new system composed of a set of technologies that will enable the recycling and reuse of all water from the dyeing process, establishing the world’s first scalable zero wastewater cotton dyeing system.
In addition to significant water savings, Colour on Demand dramatically reduces the amount of chemicals, dye, time and energy used in the cotton dyeing process. Further, for the first time in the industry, Colour on Demand also provides a more efficient and sustainable way to colour cotton at any point in product manufacturing, rather than at the outset. This will enable significantly shorter lead times for making product colour decisions.
Source: Fibre 2 Fashion