Characteristic and quality of silk fabric colored using natural dyes

Abstract

Environmental issues have become important nowadays, and there is a trend to reduce polluting materials used. As in the textile industry, consumers prefer to choose the natural dyes fabric than synthetic dyes. The aim of this study is to find out the natural dye materials from henna leaves (Lawsonia inermis L.), sappan wood (Caesalpinia sappan), and dragon fruit peel (Hylocereus costaricensis) on silk fabrics and to analyze the quality of silk that colored using natural dyes. The natural dyes were then applied to the silk and then performed testing quality of silk color. The results showed that the natural dyes mostly produce the pastel colors, where henna leaves performed a pastel green color, peel of dragon fruit performed baby pink color, and the sappan wood performed dusty pink. According to the quality test, all-natural dyes showed a bad resistance toward washing at 40°C and a bad fade resistance to acid sweat, but on the contrary, they perform a good resistance to bases sweat. It can be concluded that all the silk that has been colored by natural dyes indicated higher tensile strength compared to the silk without dye.