DOI: 10.1111/cote.
12465
EDITORIAL
ICONTEX and ICONWOOLF 2019 Special Issue
As a result of the growing numbers of conferences within
various fields, their respective organisers seek ways in which
to both improve the quality of the events and to raise aware-
ness of them within the scientific world. A good avenue to
achieve this is to publish selected papers in a special issue
of a high-quality journal, providing a clear and indisputable
indication of the success of the related conference. In this
sense, I am honoured to be a part of such a success by intro-
ducing this Special Issue of Coloration Technology, which
includes selected papers presented at two combined con-
ferences, the International Congress of Innovative Textiles
(ICONTEX 2019) and the International Congress on Wool
and Luxury Fibres (ICONWOOLF 2019), which were held,
respectively, on 17-18 April and 19 April, 2019, in Tekirdağ,
Turkey. ICONWOOLF 2019 was of special note because it
was one of the few congresses in the world (and the first such
conference in Turkey) that was devoted to the field of wool
and luxury fibres. Both events were hosted by the Textile
Engineering Department of the Çorlu Faculty of Engineering
at Namık Kemal University. The Çorlu region is famed for its
many sunflower fields, which extend for many kilometres.
The cover of this Special Issue thus sports a close-up photo-
graph of a sunflower.
I am pleased to present 10 papers from these conferences.
These include seven papers on pretreatment, dyeing and
printing of wool that consider sustainability, one on ecolog-
ical antifouling paint for fishing nets, one on e-textiles fea-
turing conductive inks, and one on structural coloration of
textiles through the application of nanoparticles.
Nowadays, wet processing of textiles with natural com-
pounds has gained increased attention due to various en-
vironmental and health problems related with the use of
synthetic reagents. One of the papers adopting this angle
of sustainability describes a study by Jelena Peran and her
colleagues from the University of Zagreb, Croatia.1 The au-
thors demonstrate the positive effects of low-pressure oxygen
plasma pretreatments on the dyeing of wool fabric with ex-
tract of pomegranate peel. Samples subjected to the plasma
pretreatment benefit from significant improvements in ten-
sile strength, wicking ability and colour yield, even when re-
placing certain mordants in the wool dyeing process with the
pomegranate dye. All of the samples simultaneously exhibit
good antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus  aureus
and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Therefore, the study represents
Coloration Technology. 2020;136:99–100. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cote © 2020 Society of Dyers and Colourists    99
an alternative solution to traditional mordanting in wool
dyeing processes with natural dyes. Another sustainable ap-
proach was taken by Aminoddin Haji from Yazd University,
Iran.2 In his paper, he establishes the optimum processing
conditions (oxygen plasma treatment, alum concentration,
dyebath temperature and pH) for wool dyeing with three nat-
ural dyes extracted from Arnebia euchroma, cotton pods and
harmal seeds by using a response surface methodology and a
D-optimal design.
Martinia Glogar and her colleagues from the University
of Zagreb, Croatia, evaluate the suitability of screen print-
ing of alpaca woollen hand-knitted samples with natural dye
extracted from green walnut shells by using iron(II) sulphate
as a mordant.3 Their results show that natural herbal dyes ex-
tracted from green walnut shells can be used for alpaca knit-
wear printing with satisfactory fastness properties.
Fazlıhan Yılmaz and co-workers from Erciyes University,
Turkey, discuss the effects of finishing of coloured wool fi-
bres with zinc chloride and garlic stem extracts.4 It was ob-
served that both treatments change the original colours of the
wools only slightly. However, the use of garlic stem extracts
is shown to have limited antibacterial properties.
The exploitation of natural auxiliaries in wool dyeing
is interesting as a topic because it has the potential to save
energy by reducing both the processing time and tempera-
ture used. Gökhan Erkan and colleagues from Dokuz Eylül
University, Turkey, study the application of liposomes in the
dyeing of wool/mohair fibres with acid dyes.5 In their paper,
liposomes are prepared with soybean lecithin and cholesterol
according to the thin lipid layer method. Liposome usage
provides darker shades showing more uniform and homoge-
neous dyeings than conventionally dyed samples. In addition,
better light and wash fastness values are obtained along with
less chemical damage to the fibres.
Sustainability covers not only the use of natural chemi-
cals but also novel synthesis strategies for dyestuffs with
enhanced properties. This Special Issue includes two papers
on this subject co-authored by Saira Faisal from Nadirshaw
Eduljee Dinshaw University of Engineering and Technology,
Pakistan. The first paper deals with microwave-enhanced
synthesis of a trichloropyrimidine reactive dye, drawn from a
class of colorants that show promise for reactive inks, and its
application on wool fabrics through an ink-jet printing tech-
nique.6 The results suggest that microwave-assisted synthesis
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100      EDITORIAL
of the pyrimidine-based reactive dye furnishes higher yields
within shorter reaction times. The prints possessed excellent
light and wash fastness properties. The second paper de-
scribes the synthesis and evaluation of a bifunctional reactive
dye based on a triazine reactive system.7 It exhibits superior
performance in terms of stability in water-based ink-jet for-
mulations, dye fixation, colour strength and fastness proper-
ties due to its medium reactivity when applied to wool fabric
by ink-jet printing.
Another study, which aimed to find an ecological antifoul-
ing paint for fishing nets, comes from Dokuz Eylül University,
Turkey, reported by Korhan Şen and his colleagues.8 In this
paper, polyamide samples were treated with commercial anti-
fouling paints both with and without copper as biocide before
being immersed in the marine environment close to an aqua-
culture. After 6 months, less fouling had occurred in the poly-
amide nets treated with copper-free antifouling paint and the
mesh openings were still clear. This study provides insight into
innovation for producers aiming for sustainable aquaculture.
The final two papers have totally different approaches
and goals, although they are linked in that each comes from
researchers at the University of Minho in Portugal who are
exploring topical means of producing functional or coloured
textiles. In the first paper, Pedro Gomes and colleagues in-
vestigate the behaviour of conductive inks applied on differ-
ent textile substrates treated and untreated with atmospheric
plasma.9 Here, the method of choice for application of the
conductive inks is conventional screen printing. This study
shows that it is possible to create conductive connections in
textile fabrics with conventional screen printing and that the
best results are obtained with cotton fibres. The application
of plasma treatment enables lower values of rigidity in the
samples after the washing procedures but does not have a
positive effect on conductivity.
The second of these papers, by Rui Fernandes et al, explores
the structural coloration of textiles by using monodisperse
latex nanospheres.10 In this context, poly(styrene-co-methyl
methacrylate-co-acrylic acid) nanospheres of different sizes
are synthesised by soap-free emulsion copolymerisation and
applied onto polyamide 6,6 fabrics by gravitational sedi-
mentation and dip-drawing techniques. Different colours are
observed according to particle size. Iridescence is also en-
countered, in which the fabric displays different colours at
different observation angles.
Finally, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the
chairpersons of ICONWOOLF and ICONTEX conferences,
Prof. Dr Fatma Göktepe and Prof. Dr Rıza Atav, the Editor-
in-Chief of Coloration Technology, Dr Andrew Towns, and
the journal's Editorial Board, for their kind support. I hope
that you find the articles in this Special Issue useful and that
readers working in academia, public institutions and industry
take inspiration from them.
İlhan Özen Prof. Dr., Guest Editor
Textile Engineering Department, Erciyes University,
Kayseri, Turkey
Email: iozen@erciyes.edu.tr
R E F E R E NC E S
1. Peran J, Ražića SE, Sutlovića A, Ivanković T, Glogar MI. Oxygen
plasma pretreatment improves dyeing and antimicrobial properties
of wool fabric dyed with natural extract from pomegranate peel.
Color Technol. 2020;136:177–187.
2. Haji A. Application of D-optimal design in the analysis and mod-
elling of dyeing of plasma-treated wool with three natural dyes.
Color Technol. 2020;136:137–146.
3. Glogar M, Tancik J, Brlek I, Sutlovic A, Tkalec M. Optimisation of
process parameters of Alpaca wool printing with natural dye. Color
Technol. 2020;136:188–201.
4. Yılmaz F, Aydınlıoğlu Ö, Benli H, Kahraman G, Bahtiyari Mİ.
Treatment of originally coloured wools with garlic stem extracts
and zinc chloride to ensure anti-bacterial properties with limited
colour changes. Color Technol. 2020;136:147–152.
5. Kartal GE, Avcı BB, Erkan G, Sarıışık M. The effect of liposome
on dyeing mohair/wool. Color Technol. 2020;136:167–176.
6. Faisal S, Lin L. Green synthesis of reactive dye for ink-jet printing.
Color Technol. 2020;136:110–119.
7. Faisal S, Lin L, Clarke M. Synthesis, stability and printing prop-
erties of a novel 2-sulphophenoxy-4-chloro-s-triazine reactive dye
for ink-jet printing of wool. Color Technol. 2020;136:153–166.
8. Şen K, Erdoğan UH, Cavas L. Prevention of biofouling on aqua-
culture nets with eco-friendly antifouling paint formulation. Color
Technol. 2020;136:120–129.
9. Gomes P, Tama D, Carvalho H, Souto AP. Resistance variation of
conductive ink applied by the screen printing technique on differ-
ent substrates. Color Technol. 2020;136:130–136.
10. Fernandes RDV, Gomes P, Zille A, Souto AP. The influence of
chemical reaction conditions upon poly(styrene-methyl methacry-
late-acrylic acid) synthesis: Variations in nanoparticle size, colour
and deposition methods. Color Technol. 2020;136:101–109.