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One reason we like spring is that the earth renews itself by bursting out in color everywhere. There are so many shades of green we don't know what to call them all. Flowers seem to leap from the ground, eager to show off their spring coats. After a long winter, we crave that colorful feast.

Over the centuries and millennia we've learned to transfer the colors we see to the garments we wear with spectacular results. This week, we're taking a look back at how dyes, paints and fabric colors came about, and giving you a few tips on keeping those colors vibrant.

See you soon!
Jim Nixon

Colorful Factoid

Certain dyes have always been highly prized, but some were too dear even for royalty. In 273 A.D., Roman Emperor Aurelian's wife wanted to buy a silk garment dyed with purpura (from which we get "purple"). Her husband refused -- because the garment cost its weight in gold.

Two-by-Two COUPON

It's always best to clean all pieces of an outfit at the same time to minimize the inevitable difference in color that occurs over time if you don't. This week, have $15 in regular drycleaning done, and we'll clean a two-piece garment at half price.(Include first page of this e-mail with your order. Offer expires 4/16/05. Cannot be combined with other offers.)

Crazy for Color!

We tend to name colors according to the natural world around us -- grass green, bougainvilla pink, turquoise, sand. It's only natural we'd do, since many of the colors we treasure in our garments originated with dyes that were drawn from things like wood, sea creatures, flowers, berries and other plants.

Harvesting color

The first written record of the use of dye is from 2600 B.C., in China. Obviously, people were adding color to everything around them much earlier than that. Cave paintings include reds, bronzes, blacks and other colors which were forms of early dyes.

Early explorers were amazed when they encountered native people who applied dye to their skins. When the Romans reached the British isles, the Picts -- an ancient people -- greeted them with blue designs on their skin made from the indigo plant. The very word "Briton" (to describe someone from Britain) is Latin for "painted man". We still do similar things today... we just call it cosmetics.

Original natural dyes were noticed by accident, rather than created. As people went about their daily tasks, something would stain a hand or leave a colored mark on yarn or other material. From these serendipitous events, enterprising individuals tried to repeat the "accident". Early dyes came from plant materials, animal excretions, even wood and soil byproducts.

• Yellow was drawn from Weld plants, buckthorn berries, safflower and saffron plants and other vegetation.
• Red, a treasured color, came from madder roots, mushrooms, and Brazilwood. (Interestingly, the country was named after the wood, not the other way around.)
• Blue, such as that used for body paint, came from Woad and Indigo plants, as well as other sources.
• Purple, which was claimed by royalty for its exclusive use, came from mollusks. It was expensive because 1 gram of dye requires the secretions of 10,000 Murex Brandaris (a large sea snail.) In today's money, a pound of cloth dyed with murex would cost about $20,000.
• Browns were made from bark, nuts and other tannin-rich plants. Lichens produced an array of colors from purple to brown.
• Insects called Cochineals (which live their entire lives on certain cactus plants)produced a vibrant red that was the basis of the Buckingham Palace guard uniform colors until the early 20th Century. Long before Europeans imported the dye, Montezuma demanded tribute from the conquered Mayans which included 40 bags of the insect dye annually.

Early dyes were unreliable and it was difficult to produce consistent results. As chemistry and scientific investigation progressed, new elements were combined to produce dyes that overcame these challenges to some extent. The first synthetic dye was "Mauve" (much darker than our current version, but which faded to that color due to its instability) was created in 1856 by William Henry Perkins.

Different dyes are required for various materials. Some fibers are plant-based (such as cotton, hemp, linen, or ramie) and will absorb and retain dyes with the right chemistry. Other fibers are protein-based (wool and silk) and require different processes or chemistry for dyes to be effective.

As fabric technology advances, new challenges also arise for dye manufacturers. Some fabrics blend natural and man-made fibers, which can make dyeing difficult. (If you've ever tried home dyeing, you've no doubt discovered that polyestershave a hard time with dyes. If the garment you are dyeing is of a natural material, but the stitching or trim is of polyester, there may be noticeable differences in color that is absorbed.) Microfibers and other extruded fiber materials sometimes havedyes introduced during the manufacture of the fibers themselves. They require no surface dye, and don't lose color with normal use because the color is embedded in the extruded fibers.

Dye Loss Happens!

There are some things in life you can hope to avoid, but gradual dye loss in garments under normal care is not one of them. Whether you're washing t-shirts and towels at home or having your better garments professionally drycleaned, dye is slowly released from the fibers. (Don't believe us? Get some of those dye-catcher sheets and use one in your washer next time. You'll be amazed at what it picks up!) In addition, some manufacturers use "optical brighteners" when they process fabric for garments (it makes them look dazzling on the hanger and gets you headed for the dressing room to try them on) which can diminish with even the first cleaning or laundering.

This is why it's essential to have all pieces of a garment cleaned at the same time -- jackets with suits or pants, matching belts with dresses or coats, etc. even if you haven't worn one of the pieces.It won't prevent dye loss, but it will prevent the two (or more) pieces of an outfit from losing dye at different rates, which can make that perfectly matched suit a mismatch over time.

Join Our Food Drive 

Now through May 13, 2005

Nu-Way Cleaners and Foothills Cleaners, in cooperation with the local branches of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), is proud to sponsor the "Help Stamp Out Hunger" food campaign from March 1 through May 13. The campaign was announced in our Valpak coupon that arrived in homes March 1st and wias repeated in the coupon sent out  April 1st.
Click on the graphic above for more details and a donation coupon for FREE Cleaning.