Thanks to the glory of YouTube, you can finally see AirDye® technology in action. In the video below, we’re simultaneously dyeing and printing logos on athletic shirts. We’re able to accomplish both with one simple pass through rolls of recycled paper saturated with black dye. And, as always, we’re not using any water in the process.

We’re no Spielberg, so you’ll have to forgive the rough editing. After solving the water crisis, learning QuickTime is at the top of our to-do list—we promise.

If you’re going to be around the HD Expo at the Las Vegas Sands Expo and Convention Center this weekend, we’d love to meet you! Colorep® (our parent company) is exhibiting at the show from today until the 16th. We’ll be on the show floor with AirDye products and demos, teaching passersby more about how the technology works.

Hunter Douglas will also be using the event as a platform to announce our new partnership, and the ways they plan to incorporate AirDye technology into their new window covering and bedding lines.

We’re in booth 2717, so stop by and say hi. We’d love to show you what AirDye can do.

In the previous post, we focused on agricultural water consumption, since it accounts for nearly 70 percent of total water use.

Together, industry and energy account for most of the remaining usage (about 20 percent). Interestingly though, the U.N. reports that manufacturing inefficiencies are responsible for far greater water consumption than any water actually used in production. Most water ends up as wastewater or pollution rather than directly contributing to making products. The result is an industrial sector that expends massive amounts of water with little correlation between consumption and product output.

The textile industry is the third largest consumer and polluter of water in the world and the dyeing process for synthetics alone consumes 2.4 trillion gallons of water annually. Strained water supplies, increased competition for resources, higher water costs, and more stringent environmental standards all beg for an industry-wide shift toward more efficient practices. At Colorep®, we believe technology is at the heart of the solution. Simply switching to AirDye® technology instead of conventional dyeing methods can spare the world trillions of gallons of water every year.

As a consumer, you can’t change industry overnight, but you can make a difference. Your leverage is in your wallet. Support companies that embrace cleaner practices. Ask your favorite manufactures of apparel and outdoor gear what they’re doing to respond to the water crisis—and be active in proposing solutions.

Welcome to the AirDye—Good for Water blog. AirDye is an innovative new technology that seeks to change the way the world dyes textiles. As an industry, textile manufacturing and dyeing is one of the most wasteful and environmentally damaging. At AirDye, we’ve created a technology to eliminate the need for water in the dyeing process: a step that currently drains the earth of 2.4 trillion gallons of water a year, an astonishingly high amount of which ends up polluting local water sources. In a commitment to change these harmful practices, and with the belief that through innovation and technology our industry can do better, we’re launching this blog on Earth Day.

greening the textile industry

First, we want to tell you a bit about what we’re doing to pioneer new, greener practices for the textile industry. As the name suggests, AirDye uses air to dye fabric, bypassing the liquid state of dye altogether. Here’s a basic breakdown of the technology: Instead of mixing dye with water and placing it on the surface of a fabric, our process transforms dye from a solid to a gas, eliminating the liquid state and therefore the need for water. When synthetic fabric is exposed to a certain temperature, the molecules in the fiber begin to expand. In this porous state, gaseous dye enters the space in between fibers and when fabric cools the dye is trapped in the fiber permanently.

Aside from the potentially trillions of gallons of water this process spares, the benefit to you, the consumer, is something we call “no rules wash.” Since the dye is actually a part of the fabric itself, rather than a layer that rests on top of it, color doesn’t fade and garments can last far beyond 100 washes. (Even pouring bleach on a shirt won’t damage the color.) An AirDye garment has a far longer life, which dramatically reduces disposability and promotes sustainability—after all, the most sustainable product is one you don’t have to replace.

pioneering social change

The implications of AirDye reach far beyond technology. Nearly a billion people go without access to clean, safe drinking water. With 4,700 people dying each day from a lack of potable water, we simply cannot, in good conscience, continue to waste trillions of gallons of water dyeing fabric. Beyond preserving precious resources, dyeing textiles without water expands opportunity for entirely new industries in developing nations that don’t have the water for traditional textile production.

join the conversation

In the days and weeks to come, we’ll be blogging about a wide range of topics, from water scarcity to eco-fashion. At AirDye, we believe vigorous debate and open exchange of ideas always leads to smarter practices. We hope you’ll join the conversation. Happy Earth Day.