The
two previous articles in the Future Fashion series focused on the most used
textiles and fabrics within the fashion industry. The articles explored the
range of raw materials used for the manufacture of both natural and synthetic
products, putting the sustainability of such materials into context and into
perspective. Throughout those articles we mentioned the chemical side of
clothes manufacturing on a few occasions – in particular in the second article
which dealt with leather and leather tanning – however we have not yet delved
into the textile colouring process.
The
first textile dyes are thought to have originated during the Neolithic Era
(circa 10,000 BC). Evidence of textile dyeing was also found in China and Egypt,
dating back 5,000 years. The dyes had been manufactured from natural raw
materials such as plants, bark, algae and insects (e.g. Cochineal insect for
red; octopus for sepia brown; pomegranate rind for yellow; and lichens for a
range of colours). Nowadays, natural dyes are the exception rather than the
rule, with 80% of all dyes in circulation being manufactured from petroleum-derived
synthetic compounds.
The
recent history of colour dyes, and the discovery of synthetic dyes, is strongly
entangled with European colonialism during the 19th and 20th centuries. As European countries colonised other nations around the world,
natural resources for the production of natural colour dyes were overexploited
for the benefits of European fashion trends. Colonialism also sparked the
discovery of the first synthetic dye, when Sir William Henry Perkin was
commissioned to synthesise the first artificial quinine from a coal tar-derived
aromatic oil, with a view to fight malaria more efficiently and strengthen the
colonial hold of the British in Asia[i]. In
1856, through his experiments, Sir William accidentally discovered “mauveine”,
the first ever man-made colour dye. This discovery sparked a surge in dye
manufacturing, with new dyes being synthesised rapidly, and in organic
chemistry in general. Following these discoveries, multiple chemists also noticed
that some of these new synthetic dyes had medicinal properties. Mauveine in
particular is known to have applications in immunology and chemotherapy.
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