Here is a very interesting  interview with Andreas Kurz – ex CEO 7 for All Mankind and ex President Diesel USA. Andreas has been associated with the global fashion industry for a long time particularly the denim industry. Here are some of his erudite answers to the questions that I put to him. Hi Andreas. Welcome to Denimsandjeans.com ? Its a pleasure to have you with us. Please tell us something about yourselves and your company – Akari Enterprises.. I have worked in the ...Read More

What is the reason behind the increased focus  for sustainability in textile products ? Lets look at some facts .. 7 Billion people in 2011 / 9 billion people by 2050. Feeding, clothing, and providing shelter for everyone does not come free. Everything has a cost. This cost has to be borne by the environment. According to textile exchange , about 20% of industrial fresh water pollution comes from textile treatment and dyeing. About 2700 liter of  fresh water is used to make one ...Read More

Though we are a bit late in posting it , but nevertheless , its good to have see some of the denim and related fabric trends visible in the Premiere Vision held in Paris in September 2011. The trends are shared by Stylesight , a leading provider of trends . Gently Damaged Textures Gently aged denim effects were visible via enzyme washing , laundering and over dyeing . Similar looks could be seen in flats also . Uneven Color : Irregular dye techniques and exaggerated flock or pile ...Read More

This is a technical article by Harry Mercer on Indigo dyeing. It is the fourth and the last part of the article in series. The first part can be seen by clicking here and the second one here and the third one here Part 4 of 4: Denim Dyeing Done Right Indigo dye is unique among textile dyes with the unusual color and appearance that it imparts to any fabric, and is along with the extreme comfort of 100% cotton denim is the source of denim’s enduring appeal. Attempts to replicate the Indigo ...Read More

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EU and US have learnt an important lesson during recession. A strong manufacturing base helps in creating jobs and income and creates a cushion in recessionary period. But financial realities makes it difficult to bring manufacturing specially of low technology products like apparel back to these regions. Asian countries specially China has, in the last two decadeds, literally gobbled up a major part of manufacturing capacity  to become the “factory of the world”. However, as ...Read More

This is a technical post by Harry Mercer on Indigo dyeing. It is the third part of the article in series. The first part can be seen by clicking here and the second one here Part 3 of 4: Monitoring of the Indigo Dye baths As discussed in Part 2 of this series, most of the control of Indigo dyeing must be managed before the dye and chemicals reach the dye boxes in the machine. In order to measure the effectiveness of control measures of the dye and chemical mixes, it is necessary to measure ...Read More

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This is a guest post by Harry Mercer on Indigo dyeing. It is second part of the article in series. The first part can be seen by clicking here Preparation For Dyeing In the previous article, the basic machine factors in Indigo dyeing were discussed. There are many other details required to achieve the highest quality Indigo dyeings , but ultimately the most important factors involve the preparation of Indigo and chemical feeds to the machine. Approximately 80% of Indigo dyeing control ...Read More

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This is a highly technical article on Indigo dyeing by Harry Mercer. Read on if you are technically oriented.. This is the first of a series of 4 articles addressing the problems and potential of Indigo dyeing. The Indigo color is the principal source of the almost magical appeal of denim. The dyeing process is unique among all methods of commercial dyeing, with the unusual design that is necessary for cotton dyeing with Indigo. Indigo has been used for thousands of years, principally on wool ...Read More

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Last year Levi’s had launched Levi’s® Water<Less™ collection which used upto 96% less water in washing. With about 1.5 million jeans manufactured , Levi’s was targeting to save about 16 million litres of water.. For the Fall/ Winter 2011 , Levi’s will have about 12 million jeans in the Waterless collection and it hopes to save over 150 million litres of water. That is a significant amount of water saved and the increase from 1.5 million pieces to 12 million pcs is also quite a ...Read More

This is a guest post by Harry Mercer. It tells about the  best practices in Sulphur dyeing for fashion denim and was  a part of the presentation made at Dhaka  by him on a seminar on Sulphur Dyes by Fenazol The Nature of Sulfur Dyes Sulfur dyes are a form of vat dyes – they are water-insoluble and in order to apply to fibers must be made water-soluble through the process of reduction.  Reduction is a chemical process in which hydrogen is liberated. The hydrogen ...Read More

Tags: Indigo Dyeing