Leading sports-lifestyle brand Nike has launched its second garment product dyed using the waterless CO2 dyeing technique pioneered by Dutch company DyeCoo Technology. The company's Tennis ColorDry Polo was dyed without using water, which also eliminates the need for added chemicals during the fabric dyeing process. It was made using 96 per cent recycled polyester fabric and each polo T-shirt is made with the equivalent of 11 plastic bottles.
The new Tennis ColorDry Polo is the company’s initiative towards making use of sustainable materials and new manufacturing technologies so that there is lower environmental impact. The garment also helps the player deliver superior performance. CO2 dyeing involves heating carbon dioxide to above 31°C and pressurising it to above 74 bar – at this point it becomes supercritical, since above this point, distinct liquid and gas phases do not exist and, consequently, CO2 has the properties of both a liquid and a gas.
DyeCoo's dyeing machine incorporates a stainless-steel chamber where the supercritical fluid CO2 - rather than water - is used to dye textile materials. The supercritical fluid CO2 swells hydrophobic man-made fibers and this process enables modified disperse dyes to diffuse within the fibre. In the same chamber, fabric drying and the removal of excess dye are also carried out. www.nike.com
