Treatment of textile material
The present invention generally relates to a method for changing the color of a textile material to obtain a vintage and/or worn appearance comprising the steps of contacting the fabric textile material with a nitrate salt, activating the nitrate salt by the addition of an acid catalyst until the desired color change is achieved.
1. A method for changing the color of a dyed denim textile material to obtain a vintage and/or worn appearance, comprising the steps of:
(a) contacting the denim textile material with a solution of Mg(NO 3 ) 2 ,
(b) activating the Mg(NO 3 ) 2 by the addition of a citrate catalyst, and
(c) maintaining step (b) until the desired color change is achieved,
wherein steps (a)-(c) are conducted at a temperature below 90° C., and
wherein a ΔL value between the denim textile material before step (a) and after step (c) is greater than 2, wherein L refers to lightness as defined by CIE 1976 Lab color space.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the Mg(NO 3 ) 2 and citrate catalyst are in an aqueous solution comprising about 1-75 vol % Mg(NO 3 ) 2 and 0.5-50 vol % citrate catalyst and wherein the aqueous solution optionally further comprises a peroxide.
3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the treatment is carried out at a temperature of about 10 to below 90° C., or at a temperature of about 10 to 60° C., or at a temperature of about 10 to 50° C., or at room temperature.
4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the dyed denim textile material is dyed with a dye selected from the group consisting of sulphur dye, VAT dye, natural dyes and a combination of any of the foregoing.
5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the pH of the solution is higher than 2.
6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of applying a laser beam to the denim textile material to generate NO x compounds.
7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the laser beam consists of infrared light or light having a wavelength of 10.6 μm.