Nike has formed a partnership with DyeCoo Textile Systems B.V., a Dutch company that has developed and built the first commercially available waterless textile dyeing machines. The technology uses recycled carbon dioxide and thus eliminates the use of water for dyeing textiles. Nike said it thinks the process could revolutionize textile manufacturing, and it can help it meet its goal of working for the planet. The company has been experimenting with the technology for eight years, and later this year hopes to unveil its first apparel that was dyed without water. It still has work to do to adjust the process to large-scale production. Reinier Mommaal, the chief executive of DyeCoo, counts the technology's advantages: no water consumption, reduction in energy use, no auxiliary chemicals used, no need for drying, and processing fabric takes half the time. The quality of the dyed fabric can also be improved, and no water means no effluent discharge from facilities processing the cloth.

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