1/21/2024 0 Comments Indigo v navy![]() Regarding visual differences, denim woven from yarn dyed with natural indigo has more colour variation, a distinctive green cast-which is the tone of the fabric-and it fades slowly. Denim mills which use natural indigo will be challenged with obtaining shade consistency and production feasibility, which drives up costs. The natural dyestuff contains impurities, and not even the best producers can guarantee the level of consistency that modern denim manufacturers demand. Natural indigo is inconsistent in colourĪn explanation for the big price difference is found in the method of dye extraction and production, which makes natural indigo much less colour-stable and thus even more costly to use. denim jeans, you need roughly 25 grammes of indigo. To get a better idea of what this means at the cost of an average pair of jeans, you need to multiply the price with the amount of indigo needed to dye the fabric blue. With different qualities and grades, prices may vary even more. The price of synthetic indigo usually varies between $1 to $5 per 100 grammes whereas the price of natural indigo ranges from $20 to $40 per 100 grammes. Not surprisingly, the most significant difference between the two is that synthetic indigo is a lot cheaper than natural indigo. Let’s take a look at the main differences between natural indigo and synthetic indigo. Today, almost all blue denim is dyed with synthetic indigo. By 1914, 95% of all natural indigo production had disappeared. The result, introduced as ‘Indigo Pure’ in 1897, was a phenomenal success, despite initial scepticism. Working with Germany’s Badische Anilin- & Soda-Fabrik (BASF), he spent three decades, and more money than the company’s entire capital value, refining synthetic indigo. It was, in fact, the first synthesised dyestuff ever made, which won von Baeyer the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1905. ![]() The basic chemical structure of synthetic indigo was discovered in 1878 by the German chemist, Adolf von Baeyer. These days, however, almost all indigo is synthetic through chemical engineering. Indigo used to be ‘natural’ as it was made from plants. Wiki home » Denim explained » Indigo Synthetic indigo The final death blow to woad was the introduction of synthesised indigo. Nevertheless, true indigo eventually surpassed woad. In what indigo historian Jenny Balfour-Paul calls the “woad war,” woad growers, merchants, and even entire nations fought against the invasion of true indigo as they (with good reason) feared to lose their livelihoods.Īs late as the 18th century, using true indigo remained punishable by death in Germany and France. The exotic true indigo was seen as a serious threat. But true indigo binds better to less absorbent fibres such as cotton, which made it the favoured alternative. For more than a thousand years, woad dominated in Europe. The first woad-dyed textiles appeared in Europe in the 8th century BC in other words in the early Iron Age. Kerstin Neumüller and Douglas Luhanko, authors of En handbok om indigo, out in the wild collecting plants.Įurope had its version of natural indigo made from woad, a plant with similar properties to indigofera tinctoria. The dye is extracted through fermentation a series of biochemical reactions produce an indigo sludge that can be dried into blocks and then ground into powder. ![]() This is what we call ‘natural indigo’ today. In South Asia, the indigo pigment has traditionally been extracted from dried leaves from the indigofera tinctoria plant-also known as ‘true indigo.’ Wiki home » Denim explained » Indigo Natural indigo That means they’re as much as 4,500 years old. The oldest preserved indigo-dyed textile fragments in existence were unearthed in pyramids built during Ancient Egypt’s Fifth Dynasty. It was imported with great difficulty from far-off colonies, which earned indigo a status similar to that of tea, coffee, silk or even gold.Īrchaeologists have traced the use of indigo back 6,000 years, which makes it one of the oldest dyestuffs still in use today. Only a few centuries back, this mysterious dyestuff was so exclusive that only royalty and the aristocracy could afford it. ![]() It’s easy to forget that indigo used to be a rare commodity. Today, indigo-dyed garments are an integral part of everyone’s wardrobe: we all wear blue jeans. ![]() We guide you to the best raw selvedge jeans, denim jackets, heavy flannels, T-shirts, denim shirts, and more. Visit our buying guides before your next purchase. Looking for Quality Jeans and Other Well-Made Menswear? In 2016, a 6000-year-old scrap of fabric dyed with indigo was found in Peru. Indigo is one of the oldest dyestuffs still in use today. The name ‘indigo’ comes from the Greek word ‘indikón’-which became ‘indicum’ in Latin-and the original meaning was simply “a substance from India.” Indigo is the colour that makes blue jeans blue. For more information about rope dyeing and slasher dyeing visit this entry. This entry is a must-know term from our Denim vocabulary. ![]()
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