At ITMA 2019 this past June, Archroma, the Swiss specialty chemical and coloring firm, introduced Foron SP-WF—a range of “high wet-fast disperse” dye for use in knitted polyester sportswear and activewear apparel.
Citing a need to counter demand for sportswear that is “reinforced with the now installed athleisure trend,” Mark Dohmen, the head of Archoma’s Competence Center for Automotive and Synthetic Dyes, said the range will offer deeper and more colorfast dyes than is typical in sportswear.
“Consumers want deep color that stays put on the fiber and brands are defining their requirements accordingly,” Dohmen explained. “With our Foron SP-WF [range], we can offer to manufacturers of sportswear textiles a solution that combines high levels of wet fastness with high productivity and low resource consumption. Because it’s our nature!”
Archroma says the new range was developed in compliance with its environmental standard, nicknamed the “Archroma Way,” and is therefore safe and resource-efficient. It will be a part of Archroma’s Fast Sport product line and the chemical and color firm said that the SP-WF range will provide the “best fastness in the shortest possible time with a reduced environmental footprint.”
“When using Foron SP-WF dyes as part of the Fast Sport system, manufacturers can, in many cases, have the potential to significantly reduce their consumption of time, energy, chemical, and water, as well as their CO2 emissions,” Archroma said in a statement.
The range will include both primary and ternary color grades developed to fulfill the stringent high color wet fastness and performance needs of modern-day sportswear. Archroma says the core ternary color grades will also enable deep shades to be applied at a lower heat during the dyeing process, enabling its use on “sensitive” materials like polyester and elastane—fabrics often essential to performance apparel—without causing excessive fiber damage or using up unnecessary resources.
Foron SP-FW is far from being the only sustainable product that Archroma has released recently. Earlier in the week, G-Star Raw launched its second collection that utilizes Archroma’s EarthColors range, produced from upcycled saw palmetto leaf leftovers and beetroot food waste. Simultaneous to the release of the new sportswear dye range at ITMA in June, Archroma introduced a new dye technology that can “mimic” indigo.