Skip to main content
BoF Logo

Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.

Start-Ups Are Vying to Fix One of Fashion’s Fossil-Fueled Secrets

Transferring dye to fabric is incredibly carbon-intensive. Newer sustainable techniques, including colouring with carbon dioxide, may help.
Start-ups are vying to fix one of fashion’s fossil-fueled secrets.
Start-ups are vying to fix one of fashion’s fossil-fueled secrets. (Shutterstock)

At a factory in Vietnam, workers load rolls of undyed polyester into a steel container connected to a storage tank that holds carbon dioxide. When pressure in the container is turned up, the CO2 takes on the properties of both gas and liquid, and in turn, develops a superpower: the ability to dissolve the dye. The factory, which uses technology supplied by Dutch start-up DyeCoo Textile Systems, is making clothes coloured by carbon dioxide.

Please sign in to ensure you can read our agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice. Or get in touch at support@businessoffashion.com if you experience difficulties.

Further Reading

The Start-Ups Aiming to Detox Dyeing

Turning dresses red and jeans blue is a dirty, resource-intensive process. A number of new technologies offer promising solutions for a lower-impact way forward.

In This Article

© 2026 The Business of Fashion. All rights reserved. For more information read our Terms & Conditions

More from Sustainability
How fashion can do better for people and the planet.

Fashion Searches For a New Climate Solution

Coach-owner Tapestry’s new carbon-removal partnership and brands making fresh commitments to textile-to-textile recycling startups show an industry searching for ways to address its environmental impact.


view more
Latest News & Analysis
Unrivalled, world class journalism across fashion, luxury and beauty industries.
VIEW MORE
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
CONNECT WITH US ON