17 - Sustainable dyeing and printing of knitted fabric with natural dyes

Abstract

Knitting industry is one of the most innovative producers and also occupies an important position in the global textile industry. The change in lifestyle and fashion is mainly responsible for the growth of this industry. At present, the knitted garments are preferred in both formal and casual wear by men and women due to the ease of carrying and comfort. Dyeing and printing of textiles are mainly done to enhance the aesthetic appeal apart from its functional use. In the present era of ecological concern, there is a worldwide interest for dyeing and printing of textiles with sustainable and cleaner production methods using natural dyes. The rapid growths in value-added textiles and apparels have created many opportunities among the researchers to concentrate on the use of natural dyes to enhance the functional properties of the textiles apart from dyeing and printing. The dyeing and printing with natural dyes on woven textiles are quite common. This chapter is mainly focussed on the application of natural dyes on knitted fabric. The knitted fabric possesses poor dimensional stability with some inherent limitations in terms of elongation, shrinkage, and unevenness of shades. Knitted fabric is preferably dyed in soft flow and winch, where no tension is given. In case of natural dyes, piece dyeing in a tub with high liquor ratio can be preferred in order to avoid nonuniformity of shades. The color yielding plant resources is explored for dyeing and printing of 100% cotton knitted fabric in order to achieve aesthetic appeal along with improved functional properties of the dyed and printed materials. Further efforts should be made to identify the indigenous plant sources and also to standardize the recipe along with dyeing and printing conditions.