Dylon Dyes wants to lower CO2 emissions with new 'Re-Dye Don't Re-Buy' initiative

Dylon Dyes, a British brand for textile dyes and other household chemicals, wants to reduce the fashion industry’s CO2 emissions with its “Re-Dye Don’t Re-Buy” initiative. The starting point for the campaign, which will launch this autumn, was a report commissioned by Dylon Dyes that examined the impact of buying new clothes versus dyeing existing garments.

Starting from the fact that British consumers are known for their fast-fashion consumption and buy more clothes per person compared to other European countries, 66 percent of those consumers surveyed for the report admitted to buying the same amount or more clothing than they did two years ago. However, one in three (34 percent) now consciously buys fewer clothes, citing environmental impact as one of the main reasons, according to the report.

With the “Re-Dye Don’t Re-Buy” initiative, Dylon wants to inspire consumers to breathe new life into their old clothes by dyeing them in different colours and using different techniques, while getting creative.

Dylon Dyes’ “Re-Dye Don’t Re-Buy” campaign will start this autumn

To support consumers, the textile dyes maker will publish information and “how to” guides in video format on social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube starting in autumn. These will be supplemented by user-generated content from respected fashion influencers and the release of the brand’s first fashion collection, among other things.

“We are thrilled to be supporting efforts in the fashion industry to build a more sustainable future. The ‘Re-Dye Don’t Re-Buy’ goal is to help educate consumers on how easy it is to revive and recycle garments whilst significantly helping the environment and saving consumers money,” comments Rebecca Bland, senior brand manager at Dylon Dyes, in a press release.

The report shows that each pair of jeans that is re-dyed instead of bought new could potentially save up to 20 kilograms of CO2 - so if just 10 percent of the UK’s 26 million adults aged between 20 to 50 years decided to re-dye an existing pair of jeans instead of buying a new one, the potential carbon dioxide savings would be 49 million kilograms in just one year. This would be equivalent to about 15,500 round-trip flights from London to Hong Kong.

“Currently, 300,000 tonnes of UK household textile waste goes to landfill or for incineration each year, but much of it could be recycled. We’re hoping that our initiative will urge people to first dig into their wardrobes to see how they can revolutionise their wardrobes and transform their existing clothes with Dylon Dyes Machine Pods before making new purchases,” concludes Bland.