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Advanced Processing Matrix [Plus]
The Advanced Processing Matrix (APM) aims to continue Fashion for Good’s efforts to accelerate the shift from wet to mostly dry processing in the fashion industry by validating innovative textile processing technologies with potential to drive CO₂e reduction, alongside improvements in water and chemical usage. The tool serves as the knowledge resource for Future Forward Factories aiming to transform facilities into near Net-0.
Problem Statement
While many innovators have demonstrated promising results through lab or demo-scale trials in D(R)YE Factory of the Future project, significant gaps remain in assessing the scalability, environmental impact, and commercial viability of these technologies at an industrial level.
Real-time factory floor data is critical for validating the true potential of these technologies to decarbonise the supply chain and reduce the use of other resources such as water and chemicals.
Technology Overview
About the Tool
By conducting thorough assessments at an industrial scale, the Advanced Processing Matrix seeks to provide actionable insights into the environmental impact and performance benefits of these innovations. This living database, helps stakeholders compare innovations and incumbent technologies across technical, environmental, and performance metrics. The landscape of solutions assessed across Tier2 steps (pretreatment, colouration and finishing) includes disruptive innovations as well as more established innovative technologies delivering improved environmental outcomes. The goal is to foster informed decision-making, supporting the adoption of innovations in the fashion industry with the potential to decarbonise and reduce water consumption.
The radar graphs above present a summary of the insights drawn from the Advanced Processing Matrix. Each assessment has been benchmarked against the relevant conventional processes that the innovation seeks to replace. The results, grouped by technology category, have been evaluated and scored across three key dimensions—Price, Technology, and Impact—and are visualised accordingly in the radar charts.
The Impact dimension includes energy efficiency, along with water and chemical savings. Technology refers to quality and accessibility, while the final dimension, Price, focuses on payback time.
Each axis of the radar chart represents one of these categories, providing a profile of each technology across six evaluation criteria. The further a technology extends towards the outer edge, the stronger its performance in that area—indicating, for example, greater impact savings, better compatibility, or increased ease of implementation.
In contrast, a smaller area closer to the centre suggests lower average scores across the dimensions, reflecting reduced impact savings, weaker performance, or greater challenges in implementation.
Evaluation Criteria
Impact:
- Water Savings: Reduction in water consumption compared to the baseline case.
- Chemical Savings: Reduction in chemical use compared to the baseline case.
- Energy efficiency: An aggregation of the technology’s overall energy savings compared to baseline and its electricity vs thermal energy ratio.
Technology:
- Accessibility: Ease of deployment and integration into existing lines; includes installation time and process compatibility.
- Quality: Reflects performance across key quality tests (e.g. colour evenness, fastness, hand feel).
Price:
- Payback time: Estimated time required to recover investment costs based on operational savings.
PRE-TREATMENT
Plasma
Plasma treatment uses ionised gas to clean or activate fabric surfaces without water or chemicals. It enhances adhesion, removes impurities, and can apply functional coatings, all with low energy use and no effluent.
Enzymatic Pre-treatment
Instead of harsh chemicals, enzymes are used to prepare fabrics for dyeing in a gentler, more sustainable way. This method saves water and energy, improves fabric quality, and is safer for workers and the environment.
COLOURATION
Digital Spray
Digital spray technology applies dye and finishing chemistry directly onto fabric using precise nozzles. The process is digitally controlled, uses minimal water, and significantly cuts down on chemicals and dyestuff compared to traditional dyeing.
Gravure Printing
Gravure printing transfers ink from tiny engraved cells on a roller directly onto fabric, enabling high-quality, repeatable patterns. It is a mostly waterless, energy-efficient process that uses digital controls to engrave the rollers precisely.
Supercritical CO2
This technology replaces water with pressurised CO₂ to dye fabrics in a closed-loop system. It eliminates water effluent, reuses both dye and CO₂, and reduces chemical and energy use.
Dope Dyeing
A method of colouring man made fibres by incorporation of the colourant in the spinning composition before extrusion into filaments or fibres. While this is not a new technology, it has the potential to drastically reduce resource consumption in the colouration process.
Digital Printing
Digital textile printing is an inkjet-based printing method which enables the printing of high-quality designs from a digital data file onto different fabrics. The ink is deposited in the form of minuscule droplets by the digitally controlled printing heads. It is a mostly waterless process and reduced energy use as no dye bath is needed.
FINISHING
Plasma
Plasma treatment uses ionised gas to clean or activate fabric surfaces without water or chemicals. It enhances adhesion, removes impurities, and can apply functional coatings, all with low energy use and no effluent.
Digital Spray
Digital spray technology applies dye and finishing chemistry directly onto fabric using precise nozzles. The process is digitally controlled, uses minimal water, and significantly cuts down on chemicals and dyestuff compared to traditional dyeing.
Ecosystem Partners
Innovations Tested
GRINP
GRINP develops and produces machines using their proprietary atmospheric plasma technology. Their industrial machines can replace traditional pre-treatments such as bleaching.
Alchemie Technology
Alchemie Technology has developed clean-tech dyeing and finishing processes which are enabled by its unique digital fluid jetting technology. Alchemie’s digital manufacturing solutions for dyeing and finishing deliver reductions in operational costs and environmental impact: reducing wastewater, chemistry and energy consumption.
Imogo
Imogo offers a digitally enabled spray dyeing technology through its DyeMax machine, which uses a combination of a high-speed spray application with a proprietary autoclave fixation step, used for both dyeing and finishing. Their technology offers a lower use of water, chemistry, energy and increased accuracy and flexibility compared to conventional methods.
Deven Supercriticals
Deven Supercriticals has developed a dyeing and finishing technology using supercritical CO2. They offer an efficient single step dyeing as well as finishing technology for man-made, natural and blended textiles. Their supercritical CO2 based dyeing allows the use of traditional dyes, improved dye utilisation, easy scale-up and less than half the batch time needed in current supercritical CO2 dyeing processes.
E.DYE
E-dye® Waterless colour system uses a solution dyeing process particularly for synthetic fibres like polyester. During this process, the pigment recipe is mixed with PET chips (virgin or recycled) before they are melted and spun into yarn. The solution consisting of polyester and the pigment(s) is heated into a liquid state and extruded into filaments. This way, the colour becomes essentially integrated within the fibres themselves.
Zydex
Zydex is a specialty chemicals company with the purpose of innovating to Comment start create a sustainable world through conservation of resources. Zydex offers a diverse set of chemical technologies for the Textile, Agriculture, Pavement and Construction Industries. It also manufactures globally benchmarked pigment printing thickeners, dyeing & levelling chemicals, binders and additives.
Baldwin
Fuelled by 100 years of innovation, Baldwin Technology Company Inc. is a leading global manufacturer and supplier of innovative process automation, equipment, parts service and consumables for a number of industries, including printing, packaging, textiles, and electronics. Operating in 14 locations across 10 countries, Baldwin’s innovations have improved workflow automation and process efficiency.
Pluvia
Pluvia offers a continuous washing range (CWR) technology for post-dyeing and post-printing operations. The Pluvia continuous washing range has low power consumption compared to other machines. It operates with a low-pressure system between the nozzle and the J-box, maintaining a low liquor ratio, working at low pressure and high volume, significantly enhancing the washing process. As a result, the Pluvia machine delivers superior washing performance compared to conventional washing machines.
Fibre52
Fibre52 has developed a patented process for preparing and dyeing cotton and other cellulosic materials, applicable to fibres, yarn, fabric (knit and woven), and garments. This innovative technique shortens the process by over an hour compared to conventional methods and requires lower temperatures for fabric preparation. Additionally, by removing caustic soda and acid, the fibre isn’t degraded, thus retaining its natural strength and softness properties.
CleanKore
CleanKore’s patented technology modifies the denim dye range to eliminate Potassium Permanganate spray, lower the carbon footprint & improve sustainability throughout the supply chain without increasing cost.
