Footprint of Rubia®Red 100% Natural Colors

Several days ago, I received this newsletter from the managing director of Rubia®Red.

“In my last newsletter I announced a report about the CO2 footprint assessment of Rubia®Red.

The evaluation took place by the highly respected University of Utrecht; the final report came in now and looks very positive for our natural dyeing extract!

Our dyestuffs are more than carbon neutral; that is to say, they consume more CO2 in the vegetable stage as plants than what they produce in the stage of the colour production in our factory.

Therefore, customers using Rubia®Red will have so-called carbon credits!

When buying our dyestuffs, you can compensate part of the CO2 production of your own products.

So, our dye extracts have an exceptionally positive carbon footprint, enabling you to differentiate your products even more from competition!

Best regards from Steenbergen, The Netherlands and have a nice weekend,

PS: On 10 December, we will have an interesting Rubia event in the new headquarters of ZLTO in Den Bosch, The Netherlands. This will include an excursion through the building to see more than 1600 m2 carpets and interior claddings dyed with Rubia®Red!”

Way to go Rubia!

Photos & letter Copyright Rubia Pigmenta Naturalia.

Borsalino Hats Go Green with Rubia® Red

Rubia® Pigmenta Naturalia has been on the cutting edge in red eco-dyes, which date back to over two millennia.

Now, thanks to Rubia®, Italian hat brand Borsalino has a Rubia® dyed hat line.

After having mastered the art of hat making in France, Alessandro Giuseppe Borsalino opened a workshop in Alessandria, Italy.

In 1857, his brother Lazzaro joined hands and the millinery legend began.

Now, more than 150 years later, Borsalino turns an eye to “green” dyes from the Netherlands as Rubia® colors their felt hats with tints of red and brown.

Photo Copyright Rubia® Pigmenta Naturalia.

Rubia Pigmenta Naturalia

After posting my 2-part interview with sustainable designer and artist John Patrick, I received an email from his Dutch friend, Anco Sneep, director of Rubia Pigmenta Naturalia, which produces a natural red dye that dates back to over two millenia:

"A world without colour is barely conceivable for us. Nature provides for colour all around and anything we create, we create in colour. And–we’ve been doing so for thousands of years. Primeval human beings already used colours to outline drawings or illustrations, and all generations thereafter carried on doing so. These colours were made from natural resources. One of the most important materials was–and still is–madder.

The roots of the madder plant produce a genuine red colour. The ancient Egyptians had already discovered the incomparable madder tint: a belt dyed with madder root was found in the tomb of Tutankhamen. But the ancient Greeks and Romans also used this unique colour as a dye, which in the later Byzantium Empire was given the name Turkish Red. Famous artists like El Greco, Velasquez, and Vermeer used madder as a base for particular red tints in their paintings.

In the 18th century, madder–or by its scientific name Rubia Tinctorum –became a popular dye for textiles. Particularly in the southern Netherlands, in West Brabant and Zeeland, the plant was cultivated on a large scale. Madder became an important economic factor in this area.

After the German chemists Graebe and Liebermann discovered in 1868 how the red madder dye could be produced synthetically, cultivation of madder quickly declined and finally vanished.

Rubia® has developed a totally new process to extract the genuine madder dye very efficiently in an ecologically friendly manner. Elements of the system are specially selected madder under license.

The highest priority in the Rubia® research laboratories is continuous process control and optimization aligned with quality enhancement. In addition, the colour agent content of the different root batches is determined to permit fair compensation for the growers.

In the factory, the colour agent is extracted from the roots by means of a special Rubia® process. As market leader, Rubia Pigmenta Naturalia® comes from the only industrial installation worldwide to produce the authentic Turkish Red.

Rubia® red is the ideal dye for companies seeking to differentiate themselves through the use of authentic and brilliant colours, produced entirely on a natural basis. Rubia®–a new dimension in colour!

Highly praised Dutch designer Rianne de Witte has decided to work with natural dyes of Rubia Pigmenta Naturalia®!

Photos and Slide Show Copyright by Rubia Pigmenta Naturalia.