Demands made on modern garment dyeing

Advantages of garment dyeing for the market:

• Quick reaction to the demands made by the fashion industry, e.g. certain shades or look
• Short pre-run time and very flexible batch sizes
• Fastness levels according to the demand respectively application field or country
• Typical garment dye characteristics such as handle/feel, wash look and shrinkage
• Fashion effects and finishes depending on the requirements (e.g. Old-Look, Cold-Dye, local bleach / discharge, destroyed or coating effects)

Garment dyeing does of course bear some disadvantages which should not go unmentioned:

• Blends made of cellulose and polyester can only be dyed to a limited extent, e.g. by using a carrier or an HT drum.
• Since the batch size is limited, batch-to-batch deviations of >0.7 dE may result depending on the shade, material, operative conditions as well as the dye selection.
• The affinity and pretreatment quality of many low cost RFD (ready for dyeing) materials varies, which can only be compensated by an additional pretreatment as well as by the selection of an optimum dyeing process.
• Compared to continuous dyeings, the finishing costs tend to be higher.
• Suboptimal processes and very long processes (e.g. due to subsequent feeding or corrections) bear the risk of pilling and damaged selvedges.
• A good printing in register (uniform sizes) is hard to achieve with certain articles, especially knits.
• Minor quality elastane may strongly suffer from the long processes, the high temperature or the strongly alkaline pH value.

Most garment dyeings are realised in the classic way, thus without strong effects. The following two categories can be distinguished

Slight wash look on selvedges and seams:

• All of the BEZAKTIV FX dyeing processes can be used but the COMBI-DOS process offers a very high process safety.
• A high sustainability is ensured thanks to very fast dyes with excellent fastness levels to multiple washing.
• The higher the soaping temperature is selected, the stronger the resulting wash look will be.
• Depending on the customer’s requirements made on the permanence of the dyeing, direct dyes are partially applied. Repeated household laundries strongly increase the wash look, which is not always desired.
• The bio-polish treatment (removal of pilling) is carried out directly after the dyeing.

Clean look without wash optics:

• Bio-polish prior to dyeing.
• A really gentle and very sustainable BEZAKTIV FX dyeing process is the COMBI-DOS process combined with low temperature soaping at 50 °C.
• Machine downtimes between rotation direction changes also help protect the fabric.
• Under certain conditions we recommend turning the fabric inside out.

Apart from the above mentioned classic looks garment finishing also offers a wide range of other possibilities to meet fashion requirements:

• Old-Dye: A look just like worn off or aged material which can be achieved with reactive, direct or acid/metal complex dyes.
• Random Wash, Blanket Wash, Acid Wash, Moonwash or Marmorizzato-Wash, etc. where the dyed pieces are treated with a bleaching agent which is indirectly applied onto the surface, e.g. by means of a cloth, pumice stones or polystyrene balls.
• Cold-Dye pigment dyeing in the dip tumble process which shows a high-low contrast caused by migration during drying.
• Local treatments such as
  • spray bleach (e.g. brightened thigh part, etc. by means of a bleaching solution)
  • whiskers (light-dark creases resulting from the sitting posture, e.g. with laser or manual sand blasting)
  • destroy (desired mechanical destructions on certain parts and seams)
  • three-dimensional creases (imitation of creases in the crotch area and the hollows of the knee)

Looking at this great number of different finishes it is of course interesting to see whether there are suitable dye ranges to realise them. The BEZAKTIV FX range is a versatile tool box offering the suitable tool for any requirement. With the classification into 14 dye selections it is easy to select the optimal combination for each requirement from the 34 BEZAKTIV FX types in total.

The full article, provided below to download, takes a closer look on the four main application fields:

1. Classic pieces with a wash fast clean look and highest sustainability

2. Pieces with the classic garment dye look, thus a slight high-low on selvedges and seams

3. Old-Dye process for pieces with a strong wash out look on the surfaces and along the seams

4. Dischargeable dye shares for subsequent bleaching processes by means of spray gun or Random-Wash or Acid-Wash, etc.

A clear trend in garment dyeing is sustainability. It is also obvious that very fast dyes are mostly demanded. Direct, pigment and acid and metal complex dyes are increasingly substituted by selected reactive dyes. Reactive dyes offer vast advantages both for their application as well as for the use of the completed garment.

The tool box of the BEZAKTIV FX dyes is suited as one-for-all solution, namely ONE dye range to meet ALL garment dye requirements:

• Standard ternary elements with excellent dyeing behaviour, fixation degree and cost effectiveness
• State-of-the-art range in terms of sustainability and ecological behaviour through low temperature soaping
• Excellent dischargeability towards organIQ BLEACH T or common bleaching agents
• Three non-photochromic yellow elements which provide for constant colours even with critical khaki, grey and beige shades. This facilitates the communication between the finishing company and the customer.
• Selection with metal-free elements
• Selection with elements which do not stain polyamide
• Selection with very light-fast elements
• Selection with elements with a good perspiration light fastness (e.g. for tennis clothes, uniforms, etc.)
• Selection with elements for demands according to DIN EN ISO 105-C09 (multiple washing with a bleaching activator)
• Colour intensive respectively very economical range
• Selection with a high fastness to chlorinated bath water
• Selection for turquoise and green at a dyeing temperature of 80 °C
• Very vast PCA-free range (without parachloroaniline) including black and navy
• All of these elements are suited for continuous dyeing.