From bacteria to biodegradable cellulose, two companies are changing the way we dye clothing. Fashion’s toxic color problem may finally have a clean solution.
Fashion’s relationship with color is being rewritten in living cells and cellulose. If petroleum defined the last century of pigments, two new developments are hinting at what comes next: one, born from genetically modified bacteria; the other, coaxed from wood pulp. Both are clean, scalable, and aiming to upend one of the most environmentally toxic processes in the global textile industry: color dyeing.
In May, the Citizens of Humanity Group — the Los Angeles-based owner of premium denim labels including Agolde and Goldsign — hosted a panel inside Bloomingdale’s to spotlight a first-of-its-kind collaboration between its denim brand Agolde and two surprising partners: French biochemicals startup Pili, and The Lycra Company. The group gathered to celebrate a new collection of jeans made using two next-gen material innovations: EcoMade Lycra fiber (a corn-based stretch fiber from Lycra) and a revolutionary dye called Eco-Indigo, created by Pili.
“At the end of the day, there are a lot of people working on different innovations; it comes down to talent, leadership, and transparency,” said Amy Williams, chief executive officer of Citizens of Humanity Group. “And when things are in the early stage, they don’t go perfectly, and you have to have an open conversation and the willingness to shift and learn.”
Eco-Indigo, the result of nearly a decade of R&D, is a bacteria-based alternative to petroleum-derived indigo. Pili’s process replaces fossil fuels with sugar, ethanol, oxygen, and hydrogen — 90 percent of which are derived from renewable resources. The company uses a hybrid model of industrial fermentation and green chemistry to transform these inputs into high-performance colorants without harmful byproducts. Its technology, which Pili says can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 50 percent compared to traditional indigo production, was first commercialized in January in partnership with Citizens of Humanity.
“It’s a little bit like magic; you’re turning biomass or sugar into colors,” said Jeremie Blache, CEO of Pili. “And it took us almost ten years to develop this solution; so now, we’re very happy to be here first.”
With more than two million tons of dyes used annually — 99 percent of which are still fossil-based — the opportunity for impact is massive. Unlike botanical dyes, which have faced commercial limitations around color consistency, crop yield, and cost, Pili’s Eco-Indigo performs like synthetic indigo with a significantly lighter environmental footprint. And unlike conventional dyes, it is compatible with traditional dyehouse machinery, requiring no new infrastructure.
The move toward biologically derived dyes is also catching on across the Atlantic. In the U.K., Cambridge-based Sparxell is scaling its own pigment revolution with a cellulose-based platform that produces vivid, plastic-free colorants. Rather than starting with fossil fuels, Sparxell uses nanostructures found in wood pulp and agricultural waste to reflect light in a way that mimics vibrant, synthetic hues — but with none of the toxicity. The company has announced it’s secured a €1.9 million grant from the European Innovation Council.
Founded in 2022 by Dr. Benjamin Droguet and Professor Silvia Vignolini, Sparxell spun out of the University of Cambridge and has quickly captured attention from global beauty and fashion players. In April 2024, it closed a $3.2 million investment round with backing from L’Oréal Group, Future Communities Capital, PDS Ventures, and other impact-focused funds. The company says it’s now scaling production and aiming to double manufacturing capacity by the end of the year.
“With our plant-based technology, we’re offering industries a fundamentally different approach to color that works with nature rather than against it while meeting the highest performance standards,” Droguet said.
Sparxell’s pigments are biodegradable and safe for human contact, which makes them suitable for use in everything from cosmetics to fashion to food applications. As of this spring, the startup had reached its first million in sales and expanded its headquarters to enable kilogram-scale production.
The market need is clear: traditional dyeing is one of the most resource-intensive parts of textile manufacturing, responsible for roughly 20 percent of global wastewater and laden with carcinogenic and endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Most synthetic colorants are built on petrochemical inputs that shed microplastics and leach toxins long after they’re applied. In contrast, both Pili and Sparxell are offering renewable, scalable, and largely circular solutions.
“One element of hope for us is that, when you switch from non-renewable resources, you connect with people who are also trying circular resources and not just extracting things from the Earth,” Blache said. “You also connect with people aware of the need for regenerative agriculture management or sustainable management of resources instead of just extraction. And in this change comes a great source of happiness.”
Related on Ethos:
