Blue Hands Collective, a collaborative of fiber artists and indigo enthusiasts, holds events, lectures and classes around the ...

Here's how natural indigo is still grown and fermented in Japan, despite the fashion industry's dependence on synthetic dyes.

Various plant species can produce natural indigo dye, but 'Persicaria tinctoria,' also known as Chinese or Japanese indigo, is a favorite among Southern Californians who like to grow their own for ...

To get that blue color, over 70,000 tons of indigo dye are made each year. When the dye (and garment dyes in general) isn’t handled properly, it can end up polluting waterways, damaging local ...

Indigo was once so vital to the state people called it “blue gold.” As interest in the dye reignites, historic sites are shining a light on its past.

But indigo, whether natural or synthetic, does not dissolve in water to become liquid dye. Instead, it must be altered using harsh chemicals that bind the dye to clothing fibers.

The planter urges not only that the vegetable dye is more durable, but that it contains an impurity, "indigo red," which, if present to a small extent only, renders the indigo more valuable for ...

Indigo dye's beautiful color is shrouded by an ugly history. In the mid-1700s, wealthy South Carolina planters called it "blue gold," a labor-intensive cash crop produced by the sweat of enslaved ...

Researchers have uncovered the earliest known use of indigo dye, discovered in an unusually well-preserved 6,000-year-old Andean cotton fabric from Peru, predating indigo use in Egypt by 1500 years.

In South Carolina’s Lowcountry, artists, farmers and designers are writing a new chapter in indigo’s rich and tangled history. A vat of bubbling indigo dye in the backyard of Father John, an ...