How DyeCoo brings sustainability to the fashion industry

Headed by the newly appointed CEO Micke Magnusson, a Swedish-born self-proclaimed “business environmentalist,” DyeCoo has already sold 15 of its machines to dyeing houses in Taiwan, Vietnam, and Thailand. Magnusson admits that dyeing could be the most unglamorous part of the fashion industry — and yet this is where he wants to be.

“I've chosen this because I can make a massive impact; for me personally, it's not so much about money,” he said. “I don't have a problem with finding purpose in my job.

The technology of DyeCoo sounds quite futuristic, but it is actually well-researched and proven. A machine pressurizes CO₂ until it becomes supercritical, which is a state in which it gains “a very high solvent power,” according to the company's explanation. The dye dissolves in CO₂ and gets transported deeply into the fabric's fibres.

Thanks to this method, there's no need for water in the dyeing process. Also, no additional chemicals are used, while as much as 98 percent of the dye makes it to the fabric. The machine works in a closed loop, recycling 95 percent of the CO₂ — so the whole process is close to wasteless.

Magnusson is quick to mention that DyeCoo's tech is not the only way to reduce waste in the dyeing industry.

“There are comparable technologies — but I don't see them as competition, I see them as partners in trying to create a category,” he said. “I salute the other technologies, and I often recommend other technologies to brands if it makes better sense for them than buying our hardware.”

DyeCoo's massive three-metre-tall machines, which take up 10×15 metres of space, are built by the company's manufacturing partner VDL near Eindhoven. Each of them costs about €2.5 million, which is more expensive than a conventional machine. However, the dry process eliminates the need for a water treatment plant that'd be an essential part of a traditional dyeing house. With that in mind, the long-term operation of a DyeCoo machine can be less expensive than that of traditional hardware.

Even though using a CO₂-based machine makes both environmental and — in the long term — practical sense, making headway in the incredibly fragmented market isn't easy.

“No matter what technology you put forward, no one wants to invest in this part of the industry, the returns are too low,” Magnusson said. “This is absolutely the most conservative part of the industry.”

In fact, DyeCoo's sales process starts with actual brands of retailers. The dyeing houses may not care about environmental issues enough to just cough up a few million euros for new machinery, their customers — that is, the brands — certainly do care about their sustainability profiles. With their support, Magnusson says, convincing the dyers becomes less of an impossible task.

Any big fashion brand would have dozens supply chains for each garment, which means working with hundreds if not thousands of dyeing houses. Most of them operate machines that are more than 40 years old — and some are more open to upgrading than others.

“We're appealing to the people in the supply chain who think about their legacy, their responsibility as a supplier, and who want to improve their industry,” Magnusson said. “We're not really appealing to those guys who only calculate margins and just want to have quick returns.”

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