Environmentally Friendly Natural Dyeing of Organic Cotton

Abstract

In this study, organic cotton fabrics were dyed with different natural dye sources (madder root, walnut shell, henna, horse chestnut, pomegranate peel, berberis vulgaris root, thyme, and sage tea). The dyeing was carried out with different mordants (copper sulphate, potassium aluminum sulphate, potassium tartrate, and citric acid), using pre-mordanting dyeing methods. The color of the fabrics was investigated in terms of color strength (K/S) and fastness properties against light, washing, rubbing, and perspiration. The color and fastness properties obtained from the dyed organic cotton fabrics were between good to excellent.

Keywords:

• organic cotton
• natural dyeing
• fastness

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to express their appreciation to Erciyes University's Scientific Research Unit for their financial support (Project: FBY–09–957).