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Natural dye
Colorful dyes have been used to gussy up fabric for thousands of years, and for most of that time it hasn't required synthetics. To this day, flowers, seeds, bark, leaves, even insects are the source material for natural dye. Unlike synthetic dye, which is primarily derived from petroleum, natural dye is renewable and biodegradable, and poses little to no health or environmental risk in production or disposal. Synthetic dyes are much more widely used, of course, because they can be easily and cheaply produced. And they can achieve a brightness that most natural dyes cannot. It's worth noting that low impact, or fiber-reactive dyes, are not usually natural, though they do have environmental benefits. |