Swiss chemicals giant Clariant has unveiled Pad/Sizing-Ox, a new eco-efficient dyeing process that the company says gives brand owners and retailers new opportunities to offer fashionable, high quality jeans based on the most sustainable, resource-saving production method to date.

Visitors to the Munichfabricstart 2010 bluezone will be the first to experience Clariant’s “latest step forward in Clariant’s Advanced Denim technology that lets the textile industry go beyond current dimensions in denim manufacture.”

Clariant says, Pad/Sizing Ox maintains the highly-valued creative effects, colours and shades of its  Advanced Denim in a straightforward, one-step sizing and dyeing process that delivers a massive reduction in water consumption. “Up to 92% less water is used by textile mills, creating practically no waste water.

Pad/Sizing Ox allows 30% energy savings together with 63% waste cotton savings compared to conventional dyeing procedures,” the company claims. Advanced Denim allows eco-bleaching wash-down with ozone and peroxide avoiding the use and consequently the presence in waste water of harmful chemicals like hypochlorite or permanganate.

The Pad/Sizing Ox process is based on Clariant’s recently patented Arkofil DEN-FIX sizing agent innovation. According to Clariant, in combination with its full range of Diresul RDT sulphur dyes, including its cutting-edge non-indigo based Diresul Indicolors RDT dyes, Advanced Denim offers unique effects, improved fastness, better reproduction of tones and shades, and easy application for more precise results. The dyes are said to expand the market’s potential to achieve new and interesting colours, deeper and faster blues, amazing blacks and greys, finely-graded shades and special wash-down effects.

In addition, Clairiant says that the Pad/Sizing-OX process is especially suited to meeting the current market move towards maximizing efficiency through the dyeing of small and varied denim batches.

“Helping the denim industry to achieve maximum results with minimum resources is fundamental to Clariant’s Advanced Denim concept,” comments Miguel Sanchez, Head Global PL Dyes for Cellulose of Business Unit Textile Chemicals of Clariant. “Our extensive research and development to bring innovation through new products and technologies is creating new possibilities in fashion effects as well as addressing the need and demand for ever-more sustainable, efficient production by the textile industry.”