Indigo dye

Indigo dye is an important dyestuff with a distinctive blue color (see indigo). The natural dye comes from several species of plant, but nearly all indigo produced today is synthetic. Among other uses, it is used in the production of denim cloth for blue jeans.

Sources and uses

A variety of plants have provided indigo throughout history, but most natural indigo is obtained from those in the genus Indigofera, which are native to the tropics. In temperate climates indigo can also be obtained from woad (Isatis tinctoria) and dyer's knotweed (Polygonum tinctorum), although the Indigofera species yield more dye. The primary commercial indigo species in Asia was true indigo (Indigofera tinctoria, also known as Indigofera sumatrana). In Central and South America the two species Indigofera suffructicosa and Indigofera arrecta (Natal indigo) were the most important.

Related Topics:
Indigofera - Tropics - Woad - Dyer's knotweed - Asia - Indigofera tinctoria - Central - South America

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Natural indigo was the only source of the dye until about 1900. Within a short time, however, synthetic indigo had almost completely superseded natural indigo, and today nearly all indigo produced is synthetic.

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In the United States, the primary use for indigo is as a dye for cotton work clothes and blue jeans. Over one billion pairs of jeans around the world are dyed blue with indigo. For many years indigo was used to produce deep navy blue colors on wool.

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Indigo does not bond strongly to the fiber, and wear and repeated washing may slowly remove the dye.

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