Indigo dye

Indigo is a deep-blue vat dye traditionally obtained from plants and now produced mainly by chemical synthesis. It colors textiles by becoming soluble in a reduced form that oxidizes to blue on the fiber.

Leuco indigo: Leuco indigo is the pale, water-soluble reduced form of indigo used in vat dyeing. The soluble form enters textile fibers before exposure to air restores blue indigo.
Indigofera tinctoria: Indigofera tinctoria is a tropical shrub cultivated as a major traditional source of indigo dye. Its leaves supplied indigo to long-standing dye industries in South Asia and beyond.
Denim: Denim is a durable cotton twill fabric, commonly woven with blue warp yarns and undyed weft yarns. Indigo-dyed warp yarn gives classic denim its blue surface and pale reverse.
Indigo revolt: The Indigo revolt was an 1859–1860 uprising by indigo cultivators in Bengal against coercive planting and oppressive contracts. Demand for plant indigo tied colonial profits to coercive cultivation in Bengal.
Vat dyeing: Vat dyeing colors fibers with dyes made soluble by chemical reduction and insoluble again by oxidation. Indigo is the best-known dye applied through this reduction-and-oxidation process.
Woad: Woad is a European plant whose leaves yield indigo-bearing compounds for blue dyeing. It provided a regional source of indigo before imported tropical dye became dominant.
Jeans: Jeans are trousers traditionally made from denim, often with reinforced seams and metal rivets. Indigo denim became the defining material of blue jeans.
Indigo dyeing in Japan: Indigo dyeing in Japan is a craft tradition using plant-derived and, later, synthetic indigo on textiles. Regional techniques and garments show how indigo acquired distinct cultural roles.
Sodium dithionite: Sodium dithionite is a strong reducing agent used in chemical and industrial processes. It commonly reduces indigo to its soluble form in modern dye baths.
Isaac Newton: Isaac Newton was an English mathematician and natural philosopher who studied light and color. His visible-spectrum account named indigo as one of seven colors.

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