Textiles: “Can BioBlack Really Replace Carbon Black?”
By Ryan Cheng, CRO of Nature Coatings
In textile product development, swapping a foundational raw material like carbon black isn't just about color—it’s about balancing technical performance, global compliance, and supply chain resilience. Many developers are personally driven by sustainability, but integrating a new substance into a seasonal collection requires a rigorous business case that goes beyond "saving the planet". Most technical evaluations boil down to one core question: “Can BioBlack really replace carbon black in our existing mill workflows?”
From budget-friendly denim to luxury black leather goods, most products manufactured today utilize black pigments sourced from petroleum-derived carbon black. Because it is produced via the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, it carries a heavy environmental and regulatory burden. It generates fine particulate matter, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and contains carcinogens called Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), all of which pose risks to factory workers and complicate brand safety standards.
Performance Without Compromise
Strict global policies and EU regulations have opened the door for testing bio-based solutions that lower emissions and toxic chemicals. Yet, developers face legitimate concerns: Are these alternatives harder to engineer into screen prints or synthetic blends? Can they be scaled to drive profitability for large-scale production?
We asked ourselves these same questions during our own search for an alternative to carbon black. While many feedstocks were expensive or unscalable, wood waste emerged as a surprising winner. It is sustainable, durable, traceable, and highly versatile for multiple industries, especially textiles and leather.
Verifying Technical Parity
Doubts often remain until the first strike-off: “Does BioBlack really perform like the pigments we’ve used for decades?” Our own independent research and real-world mill applications confirm that BioBlack performs as well or better than carbon black in critical areas like:
Lightfastness: Maintaining color integrity under heavy UV exposure.
Visual Appeal: Delivering the desirable blue undertone that premium apparel brands demand.
Safety: Being certified 100% bio-based with no traceable PAHs, VOCs, or PFAS.
Our products meet several international policy standards in Europe and the United States, ensuring that your collection is compliant from the mill to the retail floor.
Scalability for Global Collections
One of the biggest risks in product development is the "adoption bottleneck". Developers need to know: “Could you produce enough BioBlack if we decide to replace all of our carbon black across our entire SKU list?” The answer is a definitive yes. We manage our own in-house manufacturing and a global distribution network to meet mass-market demand.
Having put the performance and scale questions to bed, we can focus on the reputational and environmental benefits of making the switch. All that is left is to order a sample of BioBlack and see the results on your own fabrics.
Ready to start your technical evaluation? Contact us to discuss your specific textile application.
