adidas was awarded the OutDoor Industry Award 2013 in the category ‘products of high ecological and sustainable value’ at the recent Outdoor trade fair in Friedrichshafen, Germany, for its SS14 Terrex Swift DryDye Tee shirt.

DryDye is an innovation introduced by the adidas Group in 2012 and after returning home with the award, the company posted on its blog yesterday: “Usually it takes 25 litres of water to dye a t-shirt. The revolutionary DryeDye technology eliminates the need for water in the dyeing process. By requiring no water, DryDye also uses 50% less energy and 50% fewer chemicals when compared to the conventional fabric dyeing process.”

The t-shirt won the award for its special properties and for the use of DryDye technology from the Yeh Group, which produces both warp and weft knitted fabrics. Yeh Group was the first textiles manufacturer to implement a new waterless dyeing process developed by DyeCoo Textile Systems of the Netherlands in late 2010.

Elimination of the water process and chemicals is a real and significant breakthrough for the dyeing and finishing industry. The new process utilizes supercritical fluid carbon dioxide (CO2) for dyeing textile-materials and is a completely waterless dyeing process using only nominal amounts of CO2, nearly all of which is recycled.

DryDye fabrics dyed with the unique waterless process are said to have the same dye qualities and durability as current, conventionally-dyed fabrics.

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The adidas team was of course happy to accept the prize at the official award ceremony on the first night of the OutDoor fair, where they were pictured on stage together with the management from the Yeh Group, adidas Group DryDye fabric supplier based in Thailand.

“This t-shirt is actually quite special. On the one side the use of DryDye technology ensures high water savings in the dyeing process, on the other side the special fabric we use – Cocona fabric – makes it a high performance shirt. Therefore, maximal performance, but made with less water,” adidas said.