DyStar and its owner, the Zhejiang Longsheng Group, celebrate 115 years of technical Indigo synthesis at Ludwigshafen, Germany, where the first commercially feasible manufacturing process was launched.

The history of synthetic Indigo goes all the way back to 1897, with the introduction of, "pure indigo" from BASF. Demand for synthetic Indigo dyes was so huge that by 1913, natural indigo had been almost entirely replaced. To date, more than 260,000 tons of the dye has been produced at the Ludwigshafen production plant.

"In anticipation of greater demand for DyStar Indigo Vat 40% Solution and an increased market share, the DyStar Group is planning to expand capacity at its Nanjing Indigo plant in China," said Harry Dobrowolski, CEO of the DyStar Group. The expansion reaffirms DyStar's commitment to the denim industry.