Archroma marks three years of progress in growing sustainability

Archroma, a leader in colour and speciality chemicals, turned three on October 1. "Even though it is still very young, Archroma has accomplished a great deal”, says CEO Alexander Wessels. He also has big plans for the future.

"Archroma is already a leader in driving sustainability in the value chain,” said Wessels. "We intend to build on that position, making use of innovations we have developed and continue to develop for implementation use across our markets.”

Basel, Switzerland-based Archroma started life in 2013 when private investment firm SK Capital Partners acquired Clariant’s textile, paper and emulsions businesses. In 2014, Archroma acquired 49% of M. Dohmen, an international group specialising in the production of textile dyes and chemicals for the automotive, carpet and apparel sectors and in July 2015 it added the global textile chemicals business of BASF. Archroma now has 25 production facilities: 11 in Americas, eight in the EMEA region, and six in Asia.

Archroma supplies the textile supply chain with chemicals for pre-treatment, dyeing, printing and finishing of textiles. It serves the paper market with its expertise in the management of whiteness, coloration, special coatings and strength for all kind of papers. Archroma also supplies emulsions products used in paints, adhesives, construction, as well as in the textile, leather and paper industries.

"Archroma is now on a strong top and bottom line growth curve”, says Wessels, "and we have been rapidly expanding innovation expenditure since we carved out the business from its previous owner.”

A typical example of the company’s efforts to improve sustainability in the textiles industry is its work in dyeing systems for denim under the brand "Advanced Denim”. Patagonia, one of the most forward thinking of the major clothes brands, was the first last year to announce a new dyeing and manufacturing process developed using Archroma’s Advanced Denim technology.

Advanced Denim uses dyestuffs that bond more easily to cotton, minimizing the resource usage of traditional dyeing of denim. As a result, Patagonia is using 84% less water, 30% less energy and emitting 25% less CO₂ than conventional synthetic indigo denim dyeing processes.