Experimental Researches Regarding the Ecological Dyeing with Natural Extracts

Abstract

Abstract The concept of ‘environmental awareness’ has recently had a major impact on the textile industry and on the fashion world as well. In this context, the use of natural fibres and the development of natural dyeing processes gradually became important goals of the textile industry. Of all natural textile fibres, hemp is considered to be one of the strongest and most durable. A wide range of natural extracts have been used for natural textile coloration and dyeing. Dyes deriving from natural sources have emerged as an important alternative to synthetic dyes. Ecofriendly, nontoxic, sustainable and renewable natural dyes and pigments have been used for colouring the food substrate, leather, wood, natural fibres and fabrics from the dawn of human history. The purpose of the research is to obtain ecologically coloured fabrics for textiles by using a method of dyeing that relies on natural ingredients extracted from red beet, onion leaves and black tea. The experiments are conducted on three different types of hemp fabrics. This paper presents the results of the studies regarding the dyeing process of hemp fabrics with natural extracts, the colours of the dyed samples inspected with reflectance spectra and the CIE L*a*b* colour space measurements.