Apparel July 2019 Apparel July 2019 issue | Seite 174

FEATURE
The yarn/cloth has to be repeatedly dipped to
get a greater depth of colour. The resulting colour
is revealed only after the yarn/cloth, coloured
yellow-green from being in the dye, is removed
from the vat, and transforms into a shade of blue
before the eyes! This attaches a sense of mystery
to the dye. It takes years of experience and skill to
master dyeing with natural indigo.
SYNTHETIC INDIGO
The demand for natural indigo, the cost, time,
and effort to use it for dyeing the yarn/cloth led to
the development of synthetic indigo in Germany,
which was made available by the end of the 20th
century. This led to the widespread demand for
synthetic indigo, which was inexpensive and
much easier to use, especially compared to its
natural counterpart—with the former, the yarn/
cloth does not need to be repeatedly dipped
and dried to obtain the required colour. The
most pervasive use for synthetic indigo was—
and remains—dyeing denim fabrics for jeans.
However, artisans and designers who use natural
indigo-dyed yarns/fabric for their garments believe
that the dye gives a beautiful depth of colour and
is healthier for the wearer and environment.
from lengths of yarn dyed with natural indigo
by master dyer Aboubakar Fofana and bales of
fabric in varying shades of indigo suspended from
the ceiling to artworks of different mediums and
garments created using natural indigo in
myriad forms.
The works were commissioned by the
Lalbhai family, founders of Arvind Mills, now
Arvind Limited, a company synonymous with
denim fabrics; India’s first denim-manufacturing
plant was commissioned at Naroda Road,
Ahmedabad, by Arvind Mills in 1986.
Interestingly, in 2015, Arvind Limited started
the production of khadi denim, which is denim
fabric handwoven with hand-spun and hand-
dyed yarns. It is touted to be perhaps “the
most sustainable denim fabric ever made: no
chemicals, no electricity, no high technology, no
use of depletable resources”. And true to the
company’s association with denim and jeans, the
‘Alchemy’ exhibition features a collection of 61
pairs of jeans, spanning colours from pale white
to almost black with a spectrum of shades of blue
in between. It conveys the extensive use of indigo
for dyeing denim fabrics.
INDIGO EXCHANGES
Craft Design Society (CDS) Art Foundation is a
non-profit organisation based in Ahmedabad,
IT TAKES YEARS OF
EXPERIENCE AND SKILL
TO MASTER DYEING WITH
NATURAL INDIGO.
152
I APPAREL I
THE POTENTIAL OF INDIGO
The immense scope of indigo is presently on
display at an on-going exhibition titled ‘Alchemy’
that opened in February at Kasturbhai Lalbhai
Museum, Ahmedabad, as a precursor to the
opening of Arvind Indigo Museum. The exhibition
presents information and a variety of exhibits,
July 2019