If, in the next few fashion seasons, the colour palettes on runways and in stores seem exceptionally monochromatic, blame it on the Beijing Olympics. That's what some people in the international textile industry are doing.
As part of its pre-Olympic smog clamp down, the Chinese government has closed dyeing factories, along with other pollution-generating industries, within a 200-kilometre radius of Beijing. Because China controls the majority of the textile dyeing industry, that's caused a shortage of hues, usually in abundance. Dyed fabric prices have shot up in the last few weeks, and the chemicals that are used to make the rainbow of coloured pigments that tint thousands of metres of fabric in Asia are now in short supply. Some estimate that the input costs of dyeing fabric have risen by 25% in the last few weeks.
India, which has had a long tradition of textile dyeing, but which in recent years has closed down many of its manufacturers because they couldn't keep up with low-cost China, is now voicing the loudest complaints.
Rajat Sood, general secretary of the Ludhiana Dyeing Association (Cotton Division), told the Indian Express "if the Chinese industry faces any crisis, it directly impacts us." And Dilip Jiwrajka of Alok Industries, a textile manufacturer, told the BBC: "For the country [India] as a whole and for the industry, it's a major problem. We've been given to understand by the dye manufacturers that the Chinese dyes - particularly the lower and the middle end - are not available. If they are available, they're very expensive, resulting in the closing down of some small and medium-size units."
Of course, there is every likelihood that as soon as the athletes leave Beijing, factories will go back to belching out smoke.
Still, all eyes are on what happens after the Olympic Games. Colour forecasters have been wondering whether they should tell us to think beige and only beige for the next few seasons.
Chances of monotonous fashion aren't very likely, says Rachel Crumbley, a trend analyst at Cotton Inc., in New York, a marketing company that represents upland cotton growers. "Consumers have been so accustomed to colour they will not be willing to give it up." But across the line, from textile industry experts to other manufacturers, the Beijing Olympic dyed-textile story is being seen as an impetus for changes in the dyeing industry as a whole.
"I don't think the Beijing situation will have much effect on the fashion colour palette, at least on the influential upper end," says U.S. textile writer and editor Gray Maycumber.
Still, Maycumber thinks we might see price hikes in lower-end clothes. While the Olympic games' clampdown may have caused a spike in dyed textile prices, many feel that after the games they will never be as cheap as before. And as China gets more sophisticated, manufacturing prices can only continue to rise.
"It will be interesting to see what overall effect the Olympics will have on Chinese business, particularly textiles," says Maycumber. "There is more of a demand for higher wages, so I don't see prices going down."
As a result, some forecast the renewal or growth of dyed textile manufacturing in other countries in Asia known for their needle skills, countries that had been priced out of the market by China. In India, owners of deserted factories that closed several years ago are pondering reopening their plants.
The Olympic story has also shone a light on the global textile-processing footprint - one of the biggest around.
According to Sam Winchester, a chemical engineer and professor emeritus in the department of Textile and Apparel at North Carolina State University, "about 85% of the water used in textile processing is in wet processing, predominantly dyeing and finishing; about 75% of all the energy - and 65% of chemicals - needed to convert fibre into apparel is used in dyeing and finishing."
The green trend has now hitting the dyeing industry. "There is a sustainability revolution going on," Winchester says. "[It] is not a fad or something that will go away."
At a recent international textile fair in Shanghai, green was the colour du jour. "The treasure of natural dyes," and the "many pleasing combinations of natural dyes" were discussed and presented in forums. Morocco, where the dyeing industry plays a vital role in the economy, was chosen for a pilot eco-efficiency progam of the dyed textile industry, sponsored by BASF, a major manufacturer of chemicals, and several United Nations environment and development organizations. The improvements from this project are meant to be applied to 27 developing countries with dyed textile industries.
How much the Olympics Games will be directly responsible for changes in the worldwide dyeing industry is debatable. But change is definitely in the air.
