Advantages of Natural dyes
1. Natural dyestuff can produce a wide range of colours
2. A small variation in the dyeing technique or the use of different mordants (e.g copper sulphate, ferrous sulphate, alum, etc) with the same dye can shift the colours to a wide range or create totally new colours, which are not easily possible with synthetic dyestuffs.
3. Unlike non-renewable basic raw materials for synthetic dyes, the natural dyes are usually renewable, being agrorenewable/vegetable based and at the same time biodegradable.
4. In some cases like harda, indigo etc., the waste in the process becomes an ideal fertilizer for use in agricultural fields. Therefore, no disposal problem of this natural waste.
5. Many plants thrive on wastelands. Thus, wasteland utilization can be an added advantage if natural dyes are extracted from plants in waste lands.
Limitations of Natural dyes
1. It is difficult to reproduce shades by using natural dyes/colourants, as these are agro products.
2. Colorant varies from one crop season to another crop season, place to place and species to species, maturity period etc.
3. Natural dyeing requires skilled workmanship and is therefore expensive. Low colour yield of source natural dyes thus necessitates the use of more dyestuffs, larger dyeing time and excess cost for mordants and mordanting.
4. Scientific backup is necessary and research and development in this field is still required.
5. Lack of availability of precise technical knowledge on extraction and dyeing techniques.
