Indigo mimicry for denim

Archroma announces the launch of its new Diresul Smartdenim Blue, a liquid sulfur blue dye designed to mimic indigo. The product will be the core of Archroma’s Indigo Reflection, a coloration system that behaves like indigo but aims to be a more sustainable and efficient application process. The latest product completes the spectrum of Archroma’s Advanced Denim technology, which the company says uses less water and includes the pre-reduced liquid Denisol Pure Indigo liquid.

Diresul Smartdenim Blue has been designed to address the limitations of the Indicolors earlier technology. The new dye has a greener shade, better fastness to minimize back staining, and allows overall wash-downs closer to indigo, while avoiding a greyish cast especially in bleaching with hypochlorite, the company says. The product also has aniline limits below detection and meets the requirements of the major brand and retailer manufacturing restricted substances list (MRSL) and eco-labels such as cradle to cradle, C2C.

The innovation is the brain child of the Global Competence Center for Denim & Special Dyes experts in Archroma’s Castellbisbal plant, near Barcelona, Spain. The latest product fits with Archroma’s belief that it is possible to make the textile industry economically and ecologically sustainable. The company is a global producer of color and specialty chemicals seeking sustainable solutions.