Alchemie Endeavour Waterless Digital Dyeing

Alchemie Technology is a clean-tech company based at Duxford Business Park near Cambridge, UK, whose mission is zero pollution from textile dyeing and finishing. Conventional jet dyeing uses large volumes of water, heat and chemicals and produces heavy wastewater, which Alchemie replaces with digital, low-liquor processes.

Endeavour is a full-width, production-scale line that applies dye contactlessly as fine droplets, working to the fabric's saturation point, then dries, fixes and softens the fabric in line, with infrared drying for synthetics. It handles woven, knit and nonwoven fabrics of 50 to 500 gsm in polyester, nylon, cotton, viscose, lyocell and elastane blends, with reactive, disperse, acid and pigment dyes. A companion platform, Novara, applies finishes digitally. Lines run in production hubs in Taiwan and Portugal and serve mills and brands.

• Contactless digital application: dye is jetted as droplets to the fabric's saturation point with low liquor ratio.
• In-line processing: drying, fixation and softening happen on the same line.
• Broad fibre range: polyester, nylon, cotton, viscose, lyocell and elastane blends from 50 to 500 gsm.
• Multiple dye classes: reactive, disperse, acid and pigment dyes.
• Production speed: up to 40 m per minute at 1.4 to 1.8 m web width.
• Novara finishing: companion platform applying functional finishes only where needed.

Vietnamese fabric mills can add an Endeavour line for polyester and cotton knits to cut water and steam use in dyeing for sportswear brands. Garment groups can co-locate dyeing next to sewing plants to shorten lead times for small, fast-changing colour orders. Mills can first use the Dye-to-Service model to validate quality with brand customers before investing.

Alchemie reports up to 85% lower energy use, up to 95% less water than jet exhaust dyeing with no wastewater, up to 30% less chemistry and up to 50% lower operating cost. Typical capital payback is about 12 months, and colour consistency of delta E below 0.5 reduces reprocessing. A Dye-to-Service model lets brands trial the process without upfront equipment investment.

Dyeing is a major source of water pollution and energy use in textile supply chains, and export brands increasingly set targets for wastewater, chemicals and carbon at their Asian mills. Dyehouses in Vietnam and Southeast Asia face stricter discharge rules and rising energy costs, which favours digital dyeing that can also be placed near garment factories.

Headquartered at Duxford Business Park, Cambridge, UK. Named CleanTech Company of the Year in 2024 and won the Green Award at the 2026 Cambridge Independent Business Awards. Technology deployed at production hubs in Taiwan and Portugal; Dye-to-Service partner Acatel in Portugal. Cyber Essentials certified (2025).