Nike had already announced in February 2012 that it had taken a strategic stake in Dutch start-up, DyeCoo Textile Systems B.V., a company that invented a technology to replace water, normally used for dyeing, with recyclable CO2, reducing energy use and eliminating the need for added chemicals in the process. Now, Nike is making concrete steps towards implementing technology innovations in order to decrease the impact of its supply chain.

How it works

Each year 7 billion kilograms of textiles are dyed. Every two years it uses more water than the Mediterranean sea, and 20% of industrial fresh water pollution comes from the clothing industry. DyeCoo’s technology makes it possible to dye textiles with CO2, eliminating water from the dyeing process altogether.

Learn more about the dyeing process and its environmental benefits in the following info-graphic:

Waterless dyeing for the masses?

While DyeCoo’s revolutionary technology is still far from mainstream, the company has gathered a great deal of attention so far. Its technology is applied by Nike and Adidas and the company received investment from IKEA GreenTech. Between-us supported DyeCoo in their stakeholder management approach.

Support for sustainable innovation

If you could use support in creating sustainable innovation at your company, please contact Jan van der Kaaij, managing partner, at jan@between-us.nl  to see how we could help you.