Recently, due to harmful effect of climate change and other environmental concerns, the interest towards natural dyes has gained momentum. Presently in this high technological era, only aesthetic appeal of natural dyes could not get full attention of consumers. A consumer is attracted towards a type of product which is not only aesthetic but also have some functional properties. Hence considering this functional aspect, various researches are being carried out to find out the new dimensions of natural dyes. Colours and other functional properties can be achieved by various synthetic agents, but the exploration of new functional properties of natural dyes would be beneficial and relevant for the present as well as for the future. This chapter compiles all functional aspects of natural dyes which are related to adding functional properties such as antimicrobial, UV protection, insect repellent, etc. to textiles which can protect the human being from various kinds of harmful effects of surroundings such as UV radiation, microbes, bacteria and other harmful insects. This chapter will not only deal with available methods for analysis of these functional properties of natural dyes but also explore the reason for functional properties of natural dyes.
The increasing global preference towards the natural products rather than synthetic products has increased the attraction of tourists to the local markets. Ficus glomerata fibres is one of the suitable source as raw material for making natural products like carrier bags, baskets, belts and some handicraft items. Fibres from F. glomerata stems were extracted by using water retting method. After retting, the fibres were scoured using sodium hydroxide (NaOH) for making them suitable to form the different produucts from the processed fibres such as yarn, nonwoven, woven and knitted fabrics. Scouring conditions such as chemical concentration and processing time were evaluated on the basis of physical properties of fibres such as tenacity, elongation and fineness. The optimization results obtained from testing of physical properties of fibres shows that, the 3% concentration of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and 60 minutes processing time was found promising for the treatment of fibres. The improvement in F. glomerata fibres through proper processing can yield value added fibres and thus can enhance the potential utility of these fibres in diversified sectors. So, the F. glomaerata fibres has a potential to provide an important role in making space for natural fibre products in the outside market.
UV radiation causes various skin problems starting from reddening of skin to the change in the shape of DNA which further leads to the skin cancer. Considering harmful effect of UV radiation present study was designed to develop an environmental friendly UV protective finish for cotton fabric using Vitisvinifera leaves. Process parameters of the study were optimized using response surface methodology for getting maximum UV protection while maintaining other physical properties of the fabric. It was found that 9.038 %concentration of extract with 60 minutes of exhaustion time at 40.909 o C exhaustion temperature were selected as optimum conditions for application of Vitisvinifera extract on cotton fabric. It can be concluded that application of Vitisvinifera extract on cotton fabric incorporates UV protection properties on cotton fabric which can be helpful to prevent various UV induced skin problems.
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