Samples from a warp beam which had been dyed with Greendye. © Karl Mayer

Karl Mayer, a leading textile machinery manufacturer, remains on a growth path with its Denim Excellence Center at Karl Mayer Rotal and a wide-ranging product portfolio. With its Prodye-S unit, the company is already a leader in the fashion market, and its Prodye-R is increasingly accepted by the genuine denim segment.

At ITMA 2019, which opens this week, Karl Mayer launches Greendye, an innovative technology for producing jeans fabrics with minimized ecological footprint, thus, opening up another market sector – sustainable denim.

Dyeing in nitrogen atmosphere

The nitrogen technology ensures less environmental impact and more efficiency during indigo dyeing. With its high concentration in the dye bath and under nitrogen atmosphere, the dye diffuses and migrates more intensely into the fibre than in case of conventional comparable procedures. The yarn can absorb three times more dye in a dye vat. In this way, it is possible to reduce the number and length of vats, with positive effects for the environment, the company explains.

The chemical consumption can be reduced considerably, a minus of 50% is possible when using hydrosulphite and caustic soda, and there is also less yarn waste. Moreover, due to the good fixation of the dyestuff on the fibre, considerably less water is required during the washing process.

Production with reproducible parameters

Karl Mayer took over the patents for the innovative indigo dyeing technology from Master in 2018. There followed extensive works for the further development and fine tuning. One of the milestones in this context was the putting into operation of a pilot machine at the Denim Competence Center in Mezzolombardo, Italy, at the beginning of this year.

The dyeing system maps the industrial production process at a scale of 1:10 and it has already supplied the first warp beams. These beams were processed by an Italian partner from the weaving industry, the result being highly promising jeans samples. Enzo Paoli, Managing Director of Karl Mayer Rotal, wants to use these fabrics in order to gain the interest of denim manufacturers in the innovative Greendye technology. “Only with samples produced under realistic fix running parameters we can convince on the market. Our contact partners are textile manufacturers, who want something to touch,” he said.

Fabric samples, an animation of the machine and its contribution to the topic of sustainability belongs to the highlights of Karl Mayer’s exhibition stand at ITMA 2019.

www.karlmayer.com