Dyeing of textiles with eco-friendly natural dyes: A review (original) (raw)

The use of natural dyes for textile dyeing purpose decreased to a large extent after the discovery of synthetic dyes in 1856. As a result with a distinct lowering in synthetic dyestuff costs, the natural dyes were virtually neglected at the beginning of twentieth century presently there is an excessive use of synthetic dyes estimated at around 10,000,000.00 tons per annum, the production and application of which releases large amount of wastes and unfixed colorants to the environment thereby causing serious health hazards and disturbing the eco-balance of nature. Due to the current economic and environmental consciousness, research in this front should be titled towards the use of natural dyes for dyeing textile materials. This article gives an in depth review and analysis on the categories of textile materials suitable for dyeing with natural dyes, equipments for home and small scale commercial natural dyeing of textile, extraction and mordents used in dyeing textile with natural dyes, conventional and non-conventional method of natural dyeing of textile as well as colour fastness properties of natural dyes. This could help in explaining the merits associated with the use of natural dyes other than synthetic dyes in textile dyeing to overcome the challenges of using synthetic dyes in textile dyeing and as well portray the benefits of using natural dyes.