Grounded Indigo is a natural textile dye that originated in the search for dyeing practices that are more responsible with regard to people and the environment. A doubly evocative name, which summarizes indigo’s bond with the earth and emphasizes Albini’s commitment and pledge to nature: the word ‘Grounded’ evokes both the terrain in which the plants are rooted and the company's respect for sustainability.
National
Italy
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It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
2022-01-25
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): Cotonificio Albini S.p.A. Type of organisation: For-profit company First name of representative: Giorgia Last name of representative: Carissimi Gender: Female Nationality: Italy Function: Innovation Manager Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Via Dr. Silvio Albini, 1 Town: Albino (BG) Postal code: 24021 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+39 035 777111 E-mail:anext@albinigroup.com Website:https://www.albinigroup.com/en/
Grounded Indigo is a natural textile dye that originated in the search for more responsible dyeing practices with regard to people and the environment. A doubly evocative name, which summarizes indigo’s bond with the earth and emphasizes Albini’s commitment and pledge to nature: the word ‘Grounded’ evokes both the terrain in which the Indigo plants are rooted and the company's respect for sustainability.
In order to develop the application of natural indigo to autoclave batch dyeing, ALBINI_next chose to collaborate with Stony Creek Colors, an American manufacturer of the world’s only 100% plant-based indigo certified USDA BioPreferred™ (the standard that evaluates a product’s bio-based content). This is an indigo derived from the Indigofera suffruticosa plant, cultivated by regenerative farming practices in the regions of Tennessee, Kentucky, and southern Florida (USA). A natural dye with the same performance capabilities as synthetic indigo, but originating from plant-based raw materials and through processes that positively impact the climate and environment. The innovation is in the formula. Once harvested, the indigo plant is transformed into dye in three different stages: (i) extraction: the plant is initially extracted with water; the water then separates from the biomass, the pH is adjusted and a yellow liquid is obtained; (ii) oxidation: the dye oxidizes in contact with air and from yellow turns into the classic indigo colour; (iii) pulverization: the pigment is dried and ground into powder.
ALBINI_next has been able to industrialize the right dye recipe to apply the dye directly onto Albini’s precious yarns, all the while ensuring that the entire process is consistent with the sustainability of the production of Stony Creek’s natural indigo.
Natural Indigo
Regenerative agriculture
Biobased
Carbon negative
Organic cotton
In ALBINI_next, every project is developed to increase the sustainability of processes and products and to make them last over time. Grounded Indigo aimed at the replacement of synthetic indigo with its natural counterpart, keeping the performances in line with the former. In choosing an indigo of natural origin, ALBINI_next decided to collaborate with Stony Creek Colours, an American start-up that grows the plant using regenerative agricultural practices. Once harvested, the indigo plant is made into a USDA BioPreferred™ certified plant-based dye, and this dye is then used by Albini to colour its yarns. One of the key objectives of ALBINI_next in terms of sustainability was to evolve the standard dye recipe used to colour yarns with synthetic indigo, and, not only replace the petroleum-based one, but also, reduce the amount of chemical auxiliaries used in the process. All of the aforementioned whilst making sure that the final performance of the colour, as much as the end textile product, meets Albini’s commercial standards.
Once the colour was successfully applied to the yarns, Albini’s design team worked on developing textiles which followed an eco-design logic. Meaning that all subsequent processes: preparation, weaving and finish, were also in line with the ecological sustainability and ethical standards. For instance, all the textile bases developed for the Grounded indigo project were finished with a biobased softener made from a mixture of oils including hempseed oil aimed at replacing the traditional silicon based alternative. Finally, during the preparation of the commercial package, Albini’s sales force recommends to clients not to bleach the fabrics but instead, to use enzymatic processes which are more aligned with the entire process in terms of sustainability. This way, all products that include Stony Creeks Colours’ indigo are designed in an eco-design logic, from the yarn which is 100% BIOFUSION cotton to the finishings applied at the end.
Thanks to the research taken forward by Albini, it became possible to obtain a yarn dyed with 100% biobased indigo with the same performance capabilities as the same yarn dyed with synthetic indigo, a petroleum based dye. The key objective of ALBINI_next in terms of aesthetics has been to create a beautiful selection of textiles that can cater for the taste and budget of different client groups, being premium and luxury fashion group Albini’s target. Albini’s design team created a selection including lighter fabric bases for shirting and other heavier weights for overshirt or everywear proposals. Furthermore, the proposals have been explored both in cotton and linen yarns to allow for an all-season selection of products and maximize the all-year-round appeal. On the other hand, the team at ALBINI_next has expanded the colour palette by using the natural indigo as a base colour for the realization of other colour shades. These new nuances were achieved by over-dyeing other natural raw materials (tannins called myrobalan and quebracho) on top of a light indigo shade, obtaining sage green and grey colour shade. The resulting palette is formed by 3 intensities of indigo blue, sage green and grey.
Taking the toxic chemicals out of the dyeing process allows for better practices and a safer use of the final textile products which after all, are in contact with our skin. Furthermore, the designs developed by Albini’s textile design team, have been created following an eco-design logic: the natural colour is used to dye organic cotton or linen which are then woven into fabric that are then finished using a biobased softener made with natural hemp seed oil substituting traditional silicon-based softeners. The result is a fabric of a unique appearance made with full respect for the environment and people.
One of the main problems related to the use of natural dyes apart from the lower performances in terms of fastness’ is their higher cost. This makes the uncompetitive for the wider fashion marker as well as unsuitable for high volume productions, which reduces their use to a more artisan-based production and consequently to a niche in the fashion market.
Thus, one of the key objectives of this project was to overcome this barrier, making the project sustainable from an ecological and economical point of view. It was key to render the project economically accessible to a wider market share. We believe that it is the only way in which it will have a positive impact in our industry beyond reputational and marketing purposes. So, all dye recipes, weaving structures and finish cycles were developed having this consideration of economic efficiency in mind.
To make the Grounded Indigo project even more resilient and appealing to the wider market, Albini has included a selection of fabrics dyed with Grounded Indigo technology inside the service program and the collection of the Group, meaning that these fabrics are readily available products. Albini has decided to make this investment so that clients will grow confidence and strength in buying into this alternative solution, creating an incentive in terms of short lead times for fabric delivery to potentiate the natural alternative over its petroleum-based counterpart.
Most of the clothes we wear and the fabrics we use are coloured with synthetic dyes that have a negative impact on the environment around us. The textile dyeing industry has grown by using harsh and often toxic chemicals, large amounts of water and power. Conventional methods of chemical synthesis and colour-fixing are simply not sustainable — especially on the scale the industry has reached today.
The project Grounded Indigo is addressing this problematic, which will have an impact on the global fashion industry at scale the more is adopted by brands and their audiences. Consumers must stop neglecting the realities of one of the most polluting industries in the world and comprehend that they are also stakeholders and part of this change. Without consumer push and engagement into more sustainable practices to the ways in which clothes are made today, we won’t get to the future we hope for. So ALBINI_next it’s devoted to educate with their projects both industry experts and the wider public, given them access to an otherwise very complex supply chain, by providing information and context in regards to the sustainability of products.
In addition, selecting the best raw material as organic cotton, taking the toxic chemicals out of the dyeing process and engineering the fabric with ecodesign perspective, allows to propose a safer fabric for the final consumers, especially if suffering from allergies.
In the textile supply chain different stakeholders were involved in the development of the right chemical recipe to apply Stony Creek Colours’ natural indigo.
The scope of the initial investigations into the dye recipe and cycle were to combine artisanal know-how with industrial methods. Dyeberg, Albini’s longtime local partner in the business of yarn-dyeing, participated in the development of this recipe because it holds, in house, the know-how for indigo dyeing in batch (cone dyeing) which is a very rare technique for indigo, normally dyed in rope. His expertise was passed down by his father onto him and during his professional career he developed the technique even further. For this reason, Albini has joined forces with Dyeberg to get to the best recipe and dye cycle to make the resulting dyed yarn both ecologically and economically sustainable. This research took over a year of trial and error testing. Clients have also participated as stakeholders in this project by collaborating with Albini’s design team in the development of exclusive fabrics intended for capsule collections containing one or more of the shades of the Grounded Indigo colour palette. Furthermore, some clients have engaged in the development of exclusive shades containing the indigo blue in combination with other natural colours to obtain a more unique product. Thirdly, the media, fashion journals, magazines and newspapers have fuelled the resonance of the project by communicating it directly to the final consumer. This has had an impact on the reputation of Albini as a company who is investing great efforts in making a change for our planet, but also, has raised consciousness in the wider public and given a better understanding of the ‘indigo dyeing’ practice and the dyeing process overall.
Finally, Albini Group was proudly awarded with The Groundbreaker Award at the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana during the Sustainable Fashion Awards 2022 for the project Grounded Indigo.
First of all, from the field perspective, farmers and agronomists have worked on implementing regenerative agricultural practices and improving crop yields in order to extract the best natural indigo from the Indigofera plants, maximizing the yield and thus, keeping the costs of the resulting product as low as possible.
From the side of the preparation of the dye, different technicians and chemists have worked on developing the most efficient practices for the dye’s extraction until its powderization, ensuring a high quality product that is standardized and reproducible as its commercialization requires.
Once the dye is applied onto the yarn, dying experts with background knowledge on chemistry have worked on the perfect dye recipe and cycle in order to obtain the best results in terms of colour-depth and homogeneity of the cone. Dyeberg, Albini’s longtime partner in the business of yarn-dyeing participated in the development of this recipe, since it holds in-house the know-how for indigo dyeing in batch (cone dyeing) which is a very rare technique for indigo, normally dyed in rope.
Dyeberg’s indigo dye expert is a 3rd generation indigo dyer. His expertise was passed down by his father onto him and during his professional career, he developed the technique even further.
Experts in the field of textile design have worked on creating the most adequate fabric structures and designs to enhance the beauty of the product and its appeal to the wider market. Inasmuch as the sales and marketing divison at Albini Group worked on getting the story across both through B2B and B2C channels. These workforces at Albini have been tightly intertwined with ALBINI_next and the most technical roles in the industrialization teams at Albini in order to better understand the process and how it differs from the standard synthetic indigo product. The cross-over of this different fields of expertise have been very enriching and have definitively uplifted the value of the project.
The application of Stony Creeks regenerative natural Indigo as a dye inside Albini’s collection has raised awareness amongst the internal teams at Albini and third party stakeholders regarding the disadvantages of using synthetic indigo, specially, when compared to its natural counterpart from an environmental point of view. Furthermore, the project has proven to stakeholders including brands, that the end results and the end performance of the textile products containing Stony Creeks natural indigo dye, are of a similar standard.
Another key outcome was the validation of the industrialization of natural indigo, making its use sustainable not from an ecological point of view, but also from an economical point of view. It was very important to us to render the project economically accessible to a wider market share since that is the only way in which it will have a positive impact in the industry beyond marketing purposes. So, all dye recipes, weaving structures and finish cycles were developed having this consideration of economic efficiency in mind.
Rendering traditionally ‘artisanal’ practices like natural dyeing industrial has been the main outcome of this project. Adapting the technique into an industrial context which requires consistency, reproducibly and standardization for a very demanding market has been a challenge that we have overcome with great results.
Furthermore, democratizing the Grounded Indigo project by including a selection of fabrics dyed with Grounded Indigo technology inside the service program and the collection of the Group has been another great result. Albini decided to make this investment so that clients will grow confidence and strength in buying into this alternative solution creating an incentive in terms of short lead times for fabric delivery to potentiate the natural alternative over its petroleum-based counterpart.
The innovative character of this project is the capability of upscaling the use of a natural colour, in this case, Stony Creek’s regenerative indigo to an industrial level for the wider fashion market.
Also, the most innovative character when compared to mainstream actions like the use of other ‘natural colours’ in the market is that Albini has made its use sustainable not only from an ecological point of view, but also from an economical point of view. It was very important to us to render the project economically accessible to a wider market share since that is the only way in which it will have a positive impact in the industry beyond marketing purposes. So, all dye recipes, weaving structures and finish cycles were developed having this consideration of economic efficiency in mind.
Rendering traditionally ‘artisanal’ practices like natural dyeing industrial is also one of the keys this project. Adapting the technique into an industrial context which requires consistency, reproducibly and standardization for a very demanding market has been a challenge that we have overcome with great results.
The methodology of this projects follows the general approach of ALBINI_next towards innovation. That means, an open innovation approach which champions cross-discipline collaboration and sharing of knowledge.
This way, ALBINI_next chooses to collaborate with different partners in pilot projects which are structured in three different phase: research, industrialization and commercialization.
The first phase includes the selection of the partner, the signature of the different contracts or agreements like NDA or MTA agreements and the preliminary testing phase in the laboratory to validate the technology at small-scale.
Once the technology has been approved at laboratory scale, we follow onto the second phase where the technology is tested at industrial scale, starting with the smallest capacity and following with more significant industrial tests. Along this process, several quality controls are made to approve or discard certain parameters or processes and the limitations of the technology are defined. In the case of this project, we limited the scope of the technology to cotton and linen because they are the most relevant fibres of Albini’s core business and production and also the yarn counts were designated which worked best for the quality of fabrics that the design team created.
Once all the different quality controls have been passed, we move onto the last phase, commercialization. During this phase, the commercial team works closely with the design team, COMM’s and the ALBINI_next to build the story around the project in order to better communicate it to all stakeholders.
Thanks to the hard work done by all those teams the project has had great resonance being even recipient of an award, The Groundbreaker Award at the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (The National Chamber of Italian Fashion) during the Sustainable Fashion Awards 2022.
All elements of this project are easy to replicate by transferring the technology to another fully equipped dye-house.
The technology is indeed transferrable and adaptable to different types of machinery and dye facility as soon as the right products, times and temperatures are utilized. The know-how of the technology is the key of this replication, however, it could be replicated for other natural substrates other than cotton and linen like a vast list of cellulosic fibres.
The project could also be replicated in terms of methodology, by choosing to cultivate other dye plants following regenerative agricultural practices maximizing the efficiency of the yields and the subsequent dye production and developing the right methods to dye with them.
The learning of adapting such ‘artisanal’ dyeing technics into a more industrial context is indeed transferrable to different geographical regions and for many sorts of beneficiaries for example, fabric mills for interior textiles as opposed to luxury fashion.
This project addresses one of the biggest challenges of the fashion industry. The textile dyeing industry which has grown using petroleum-based dyes which at the same time, are related to the use of other chemical auxiliaries that allow them to fixate onto fibre or fabric substrates.
Specifically, the ‘indigo dyeing’ industry has grown on the use of several toxic chemicals that nowadays are being banned for their high toxicity. Grounded Indigo not only addresses the substitution of a synthetic colour for the natural molecule that originally inspired it, but also, takes one step forward in the use of less and better auxiliaries, meaning, more in line with the ecological standards. This project is aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular with goals 9 and 12: (i) Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, because it helps to promote innovation and a responsible and sustainable industrialization; (ii) Responsible Consumption, because it is an example of how ensuring sustainable models of production and consumption is possible.
