Colour matching for smart and sustainable spinning of coloured textiles

Abstract The colours and patterns of coloured textiles are usually obtained via dyeing or printing processes. However, these processes consume large amounts of electricity and cause water pollution, which affects the ecological environment. The hand feel of dyed fabrics is superior to that of printed fabrics. Three‐channel rotor spinning is a highly flexible, adaptable and sustainable method for producing coloured textiles by blending precoloured fibres during the spinning process. Additionally, the process requires approximately half the water required for fabric dyeing or printing. Herein, the colour characteristics, as well as the advantages, of the coloured textiles produced by the new method are demonstrated. Three types of Stearns‐Noechel models are modified to describe the relationship between the blending ratios and resulting textile colours. The colour‐matching accuracy is high. As demonstrated by the results, the three‐channel rotor spinning method can effectively promote coloured textile engineering.