HORIZON RESEARCH LAB.
If natural dyes have not been applied so far in the textile industry, it’s because the classic processes are not efficient enough. Our Dyeing Process® is the result of the search for excellence in terms of efficiency.

These are our main fundamental differences:

-Sustainable raw materials.
-Recycled 90% water.
-Reduction of energy consumption of 75%.
-Use of renewable energies.
-Reduction of the total time of dyeing to 1 hour.
-Cycle in cold.
-We do not use any of the usual mordants (they are toxic).
-Maximum Colorfastness, fulfilling the standard rules of the textile industry.
-Wide colour palette.
-No emissions of effluents, nor toxic waste.
-The needed raw material is only the 5% of the fiber’s weight.
-Our proces can be applied on a large number of fibers: cotton, linen, viscose, Lyocel, hemp, bamboo, elastan, poliester, polyamide…
-Return to the environment of an ecological textile, easily biodegradable, bio-assimilable.

The whole dyeing system has been conceived as a CRADLE TO CRADLE process.

Our  Research Lab is dedicated exclusively to natural dyes and its application in industry, in order to explore the possibilities offered by nature to produce goods. Inspired by a new concept of conscious consumption, it emphasizes sustainability, integration, knowledge sharing and respect.

As our process of dyeing is 100% natural, with no toxicity to humans or environment, producing no waste and no water effluents, the final product never becomes a waste. It is completely biodegradable, attaining a total bio-assimilation with the environment.

Our process is completely sustainable and nature friendly. It can be used with any solid or liquid pigment from different sources: minerals, vegetables or bio-pigments (such as coloured bacteria, micro algae, lichen and fungi). We can apply it over textiles, wood and leather.

Our main goal has been to achieve efficiency with classical natural pigmentary dyes.

We don’t work with raw materials of animal origin.

We obtain a high durability product that evolves over time, with a progressive and slow degradation that gives to the garment a different value and beauty.

Our dyeing process is completely natural, innocuous and organic certified. It is the only natural dye process done at an industrial level with this certification and accredits our compromise with the environment and people’s health.

 

What make us different is the process!

Our process cannot be explained only by chemistry. Quantum physics is required to understand how it works.

Classical chemistry says that “water + salt = salt water”, but this is not completely true. Classical chemistry takes into account only the origin and the result, the initial products and the final products…, and does not take into account what is going on in between. Powerful forces are released during the destruction of a simple salt crystal. Taking these forces into account, the results may be very different from those that classical chemistry would expect. Our natural dyeing process is based on this simple fact.

There is an energetic field of activity at the most foundational level of “physical” reality that can be easily observed but in which we can rarely intervene. At the very edge of this energetic level there is a great activity, a quantum activity. This quantum field is the basis of our process.

Our Process© create a source of “liberated” complex ions in an aquous solution. Those ions coordine with water molecules to form more and more complex ions, creating an aquous pattern. Moreover, those complex coordinated ions have more attraction to bond with raw materials (such as cellulose) than between themselves, so when they are put in contact with fabrics, they form an homogeneous “film” over the raw materials. This is what is called “creation of a film in status nascendi”. This “film” has a powerful force of electric attraction that literally “captures” any close raw material, such as a vegetable or mineral pigment.

 

Making the right choice…

To make the right choice between natural and synthetic dyes, you need to understand their advantages and disadvantages.
Using synthetic dyes for your business is cost-effective and may allow a lower price…, but part of good business practice is finding solutions for your needs that are sustainable and that has the least negative impact on the environment.

1) Fading: Natural dyes are aesthetically superior to synthetic dyes: they evolve and mature with time.
2) Harmony: Natural dyes have a range of colors that are much more compatible and harmonious than chemical dyes.
3) Shade: natural colors look more beautiful than chemical colors because they are not “pure” colors. “Impurities” provide a beautiful result.
4) Intensity: chemical colors don’t look “natural”. The use&abuse of a naturally dyed garment makes it even more attractive.
5) Lasting: The “wear effect” in a natural dyed fabric gives to the apparel a new life and color while it becomes aged.
6) Fastness of color: our natural dyes fulfills the standard rules of the global textile industry, reaching a washing fastness of 4-5 (maximum is 5) and a sunlight fastness of 6 (maximum is 7).

Benefits of natural dyes

For the environment: minimum environmental impact. Biodegradable.
Consumer benefits: avoids allergies related to chemical products. No toxic waste. Pleasant and beneficial for the skin. No dermatitis nor allergic reactions.
Customer benefits: ot toxic, preserving the health of the workers (inhalation and contact).

 

 

 

 

Our naturals can be used in a wide variety of textiles… fabrics, garment, thread, denim, baby clothes… and also for printing (rotative or serigraphy) or to print labels for garment, over textile and over leather.

Our Natural Dye Process is also reliable on leather:
Naturally dyed leather is a naked leather, which means it is minimally processed & finished.
Natural dyeing of leather can be done industrially with our Natural Dyeing Process©. Because of the absence of chemical processing, it also has a greater value.

Our natural dyes can be used also to dye wood:
Our natural dyes are eco friendly, made of natural ingredients, like chalk, clay, natural earth, mineral and vegetable dyes. Our line of natural dyes for wood contains no chemicals or harsh volatile organic compounds. Because our dyes are natural, there is no need to worry about the health hazards that are often associated with standard paints. Perfectly safe paints for indoor use and outdoor, washable, resistant to humidity and insects. Available in a huge array of colors, these natural dyes are produced using green processes and environmentally friendly ingredients.

A brand does not have to change their production processes nor their designs to reach the goals of sustainability.

Transparent Supply Chain: We are committed to the maximum transparency of the process. All our raw materials are of natural origin. Not only we evaluate and test all the raw materials, but we analyze them in a laboratory up to 1 part per million, to be completely sure that they do not contain any polluting traces.
In order to ensure the highest quality and traceability of all the raw materials we use, we only accept raw materials if:
1) Provides the maximum colorfastness.
2) It is economically viable from the industrial point of view.
3) We can ensure that it meets all the environmental and social justice criteria.

We make it easy:One of the important points of our research process is to do things easily. If something is simple, is good. We try to simplify and group processes, optimize workflows, reduce manufacturing time and use existing machinery.

We can help brands and designers not just to have a new and cool organic t-shirt dyed with naturals, but to envision a new global final product more sustainable:

The whole process is done with the maximum simplicity:
–Less raw materials used
-90% recycled water
-No toxic efluents
-75% less energy
-Less spent time
-Return to society

Our aim is to offer to customers the best dyeing experience.

We believe that attitudes are transformative.

Values
-Commitment to the promotion of our mission.
-Shared learning and knowledge.
-Continuous improvement, researching, testing, developing…, to evolve and improve.
-Responsibility&Fulfillment of commitments made.
Humanization, and transparency of interpersonal relationships.
-Cooperation for common objectives.

Vision
-Contribute to a sustainable and just society of well-being.
-Take care of life, and welcome humanity in all its diversity.
-To contribute to the accelerated transition to sustainable lifestyles.

Mission
-Developing technology at the forefront of international research.
-Finding the best raw materials that comply the international quality norms and cradle to cradle principles.
-To reach viable models of production and consumption.
-Working only with suppliers and customers with the adequate degree of compromise with sustainability.

 

How to change consumer and industry behavior
in pursuit of sustainable fashion?

The end goal of any company should be to create products that support a delightfully diverse, safe, healthy and just world, with clean energy, soil, water and air – equitably, economically, ecologically, and elegantly enjoyed, right?

But the current take-make-waste cycle of fashion has several negative effects: it contributes to water pollution and climate change, consigns large volumes of waste and poses risks to worker health and safety.

We are commited to benchmarking our products for safety to humans and the environment, for the sustainability of manufacturing processes, and for recycling.

Greendyes is developing a strategy to optimize its final products and its whole process to generate positive impacts, following the Cradle to Cradle principles.

MATERIAL HEALTH
1.- All the raw materials we use are natural.
2.- All the raw materials we use come from sustainable resources.
3.- All the raw materials we use come from environmental and socially certified producers.

In this way we ensure the absolute traceability of the raw materials we use.

All our dyes are natural, the raw materials are identified and characterized, and they do not contain any toxic element.
Our natural dyes are easily integrated into the natural environment contributing to their “metabolism” and, therefore, they are bio-assimilated after use.
This means that if, for example, apply our dyes to an organic cotton t-shirt, after use it will become a fertilizer for the environment.

 

WATER STEWARDSHIP
In general the apparel industry has serious negative effects on watershed health. The dyeing process in particular consumes a great deal of water and creates effluents that can contaminate local water sources.

Water is a precious resource for all living beings;
And it will be much more in the future.

We do not use any of the usual mordants (they are toxic), even more, all the raw materials are natural, they contain no toxic substance or mixture… therefore, all the effluent water of our dye process is only loaded with plant substances and minerals.

With a simple sand filter the water becomes clean again and can be reused;
still more, the sand loaded with vegetable and mineral nutrients is a perfect fertilizer.

With all those companies in the textile sector with which we collaborate, we demand maximum respect for water, the implementation of filters and the signing of codes of environmental and social behavior. With the right design, all effluents can be sufficiently clean to reuse them over and over again.

 

MATERIAL REUSE
All materials used in making any type of product have economic, environmental and social cost&value.

Each time a material is incinerated or consigned to landfill, its inherent value is lost.

Material Reutilisation in the Cradle to Cradle (C2C) Certified Products is about converting linear systems into circular systems, so that the value of good materials is maintained or even increased.
Because our natural dyes do not contain any toxic element but, on the contrary, they are easily assimilated in nature, the clothes dyed with our processes can easily be converted into a nutrient.

“Eliminate the concept of waste”, helping to create products that are made entirely from rapidly renewable materials or recycled materials, where 100% of the product can be safely returned to nature or eventually recycled into new products.

SOCIAL FAIRNESS
Social Fairness in the textile industry is a complex topic.
It is very difficult to achieve a change, but the ambition remains.

To reach a positive impact on communities and ecosystems it is necessary to encourage working teams with suppliers and customers too, to make relevant adjustments and thereby continuously improve working conditions and business practices.

Please, if you want to know more about our social implications, visit the section
“Social project” on this website.

 

CLEAN AND RENEWABLE ENERGY
Energy is a critical factor in textile production.
We use 100% renewable energy in the manufacture of our dyes and pigments.

We work for the optimization of the energy efficiency of our dyeing process. Our dyeing process is very short (1 hour) and it is done in cold, so we help our customers reduce the total amount of energy needed. This is good not only for the environment, but also for them.

Part of this strategy is to increase the share of energies coming from renewable sources, as well as to diminish its Greenhouse Gases emissions (GHG).

On one hand, we already purchases electricity from a utility selling only renewable energy; in the same way, we requests our clients (dye houses and retailers) to commit to purchase renewable energy to power dyeing processes when Greendyes are used.

We do not use fuels onsite, and are committed to minimize its need also in the future.