Artistic Milliners and Archroma Debut Evo Black
A pioneer in eco-conscious denim production, Pakistan’s Artistic Milliners has long prioritized sustainable dyes and color processing.
The Karachi-based mill has partnered Swiss specialty chemical company Archroma to market Evo Black, “a groundbreaking black coloration system for authentic black denim effects and beyond with a dyestuff that is cleaner than ever before,” according to Artistic Milliners director of product and research Baber Sultan. It’s “an exclusive sulfur black technology with outstanding resource savings in dye manufacturing, and subsequently, in fabric manufacturing.”
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“Archroma has been our technology partner for decades,” Sultan added. “Our R&D teams work together to push the envelope on innovation, process improvement, and developing sustainable solutions.”
Sultan said Evo Black offers a unique shade and wash-down behavior compared with standard black dyes, providing rich black shades without bronzing effects. “Evo Black is a breakthrough technology in the making of sulfur dyes,” he added. “Our teams picked it up immediately realizing how clean it is and the benefits it provides during the making of the fabrics and for consumers.”
What’s more, Evo Black’s sulfur base offers “a controlled and safe chemistry for the end consumer.” On the mill level, it provides significant savings on water consumption, energy and CO2, without additional equipment.
The upsides of using Evo Black? It leaves behind “less charged effluents” and “has a positive impact on wastewater with fewer effluents generated without the presence of sulfide,” Sultan said.
“It is laser-friendly and provides a wider wash range, given the fact that it can take chlorine wash processes like regular indigo denim,” he continued. The process is compatible with all cellulosic fibers, and fabrics made with some synthetics, too. “We have done self-black shade in rope dyeing and over-dyeing, also we are experimenting with topping and bottoming as a secondary color using Evo Black,” he said.
Evo Black supports Artistic Milliners’ “broader strategy of embracing sustainable production from dye to fabric and lowering the impact of clothing,” Sultan said. The manufacturer launched an Evo Black collection at Kingpins Amsterdam in October to an “overwhelmingly” positive response. Now Artistic Milliners is exploring combining Evo Black with its other dyeing and finishing innovations, from Ice Breaker Pro, a proprietary indigo-dyeing technology, to Crystal Clear.
Evo Black is not exclusive to Artistic Milliners—and Sultan said that’s point. “I hope it becomes the way dyeing with sulfur black is done going forward,” he added. Once the technology starts to scale, the clean dyeing solution should become more accessible to mills everywhere.
“We promote it together with Archroma as a cleaner and greener way of sulfur black dyeing and this should be adopted more widely industry-wide and globally,” Sultan said.
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