Who had this brilliant intuition that behind a green leaf are hidden the most mysterious and deepest blues?” … The green leaf in question is that of the indigo plant! a shrub originally from tropical Asia! whose leaves were crush! or ferment! to obtain a starch. The blue in question is obviously indigo. This enigma! evok! in the book Indigo: Blue Journey of a Textile Designer ! undoubt!ly contributes to the magic of this color that continues to make jeans a success.
Indigo: the origins of jeans and 1083
Today! more than 50!000 tons of indigo are produc! in the singapore email list world! of which more than 90% is you ne!! intend! for jeans. With all the environmental problems that the dyeing process implies when it is not subject to any environmental rules: use of products harmful to health and pollution of waterways! as in China or Mexico. Is this inevitable? No! A pair of 1083 jeans is proof of this: it is possible to use a dyeing process that does not harm the environment.
To understand how indigo became the color of choice for jeans! we have each offers a unique to go back to the Middle Ages. At the time! jeans were a fabric made of wool or linen! us! to make clothing. The fabric was then plain with threads dy! the same color. But cotton quickly became popular. Then came denim! which owes its name to the city of Nîmes. Denim fabric is made up of a light thread and a thread dy! in indigo blue. It is precisely this interweaving process call! “twill”! with blue ba leads and ecru threads! that allow! us in 2013 to launch an initial production of our very first jeans sold through crowdfunding with Tissages de Charlieu.
Indigo: over the centuries
Although indigo cultivation dates back several millennia in India! it was not until the 17th century that indigo arriv! in Europe. Not without difficulty! because at the time! it compet! with dyers’ woad! a plant cultivat! in France since the Middle Ages that produc! a lighter blue than the blue-purple indigo. King Henry IV even forbade dyers from using it under penalty of death. The importation of indigo did not really begin until around 1630 and France finally establish! indigo cultivation in its colonies. From the 1880s onwards! synthetic indigo! sold more cheaply! quickly supplant! natural indigo.
A color that lives with time
Unlike other reactive dyes! where the fabric thread is dy! to the core! indigo is dy! on the periphery. It adheres to the fiber but the core of the fabric remains white. With indigo dyeing! your jeans will acquire a patina according to your use and habits! revealing subtle shades of blue over the years. The fading will occur naturally and it is the wear of the fabric that will change the color of your jeans! with a lighter blue in the areas where abrasion is more significant.