FiberColors®, upcycling textile waste into beautiful colors

FiberColors® are a patent-pending technology of transforming pre- and post-consumer fashion & textile waste into gorgeous upcycled colors. The colors are synthesized with a minimum content of 50% waste-based raw material, thus contributing to circular economy in fashion & textiles.

The FiberColors® range comprises of five dyes, covering a palette of natural shades: Diresul® Fiber-Teak (brown shades), Diresul® Fiber-Ochre (olive shades), Diresul® Fiber-Maroon (bordeaux shades), Diresul® Fiber-Slate (blue grey shades) & Diresul® Fiber-Graphite (dark grey shades)

The raw material and technology come with some limitations. That said, our R&D experts are continuously exploring other colors.

At present, we can use cellulosic, polyamide or their blends (with a >95% purity) to transform waste into our FiberColors® – and they can be virgin and/or recycled textile waste. The waste raw material can be any color and does not need to be sorted by color. (Our R&D experts are continuously working in order to make FiberColors® by Archroma available from other fibers.)

At present, the FiberColors® range is available for cellulosic fibers, such as cotton, viscose, linen, bamboo, kapok, etc. This means that partnering brands & retailers will be able to create complete collections including t-shirts, chinos, jeans, sweatshirts, hoodies, polo shirts, as well as home textiles.

Polyester doesn’t seem an option so far, but we have high hopes for wool and polyamide. Stay tuned!

Archroma uses its manufacturing facility, near Barcelona, with state-of-the-art dye synthesis equipment specially adapted to produce the FiberColors®.

Archroma is looking to partner with those brands who already have access to sorted and shredded pre- and post-consumer & industrial waste which will both perform similarly.

In addition, we are looking to partner with sorters & shredders who are looking to upcycle the residual waste, e.g. dust and fibres that are not suitable for fiber-to-fiber recycling.

The FiberColors® range can be applied with most well-established dyeing processes, such as continuous piece dyeing, jet/overflow exhaust coloration, garment dyeing, as well as processes typically used in the denim coloration (slasher, rope…).

The FiberColors® can also be used in printing applications.

The FiberColors® have excellent affinity for cellulosic fibers. Moreover, they have similar dyeing and fastness performance to conventional sulfur dyes.

The FiberColors® are exempted from REACH registration because both raw material and final product are polymer-based products and not considered harmful for human health or the environment.

We have applied to bluesign, GOTS, ZDHC, and we are waiting for the certifications.

Based on our experience with our EarthColors®, we are also quite optimistic that the FiberColors® would support obtaining high certification standards for the final article, such as cradle-to-cradle.

The FiberColors® technology is currently offered exclusively to brand owners, and the dyes will therefore only be supplied to their approved textile mills.

Our target is to connect with brand partners who want to make a significant impact with a FiberColors® collection of minimum 300,000 pieces/articles.

This quantity is based on the minimum quantity of textile waste required to create a single batch of FiberColors® dyes.

We have produced some sample batches and have garments dyed with FiberColors® that we can show.