Botanical Dyeing of Natural and Synthetic Fabrics: The Role of Mordants in Eco-Printing with Plant-Based Materials

The textile industry is one of the largest polluters in the world, with textile dyeing and fin-ishing being particularly harmful to the environment. Major concerns include the use of toxic chemicals and the large volumes of water required to add colour to fabrics. This has led to increasing demand for sustainable and eco-friendly methods of dyeing and printing textiles using natural dyes and processes. This study aims to explore the use of natural dyes extracted from red rose petals, eucalyptus leaves, and yellow onion skins to print on cotton, polyamide, and silk fabrics. Two different techniques were applied to achieve suc-cessful botanical prints, employing conventional mordants: copper sulphate and iron ox-ide. The printed samples were evaluated for colour fastness to washing and dry rubbing. Both botanical printing techniques proved to be suitable for eco-friendly applications. Fabrics printed with onion skin dye demonstrated the best results in terms of washing fastness and aesthetic quality. Polyamide samples exhibited the highest colour intensity with all the natural dyes used. While the mordants had no significant effect on fastness properties, they enhanced colour yield on cotton and silk fabrics.