Textile coloring with Indonesian tropical plants

Purpose This study aims to provide a small database of the tropical plant resources in Indonesia and their potential for textile coloring. Particular parts of the plant that can be extracted to pigment dye and the potential color shade also encourage more studies on natural dye from Indonesian tropical vegetation. Design/methodology/approach The methodology adopted in this study was a systematic literature review aided by the use of online databases and SciMAT software. Documents were collected from the Web of Science, PubMed, Google Scholar and Scopus databases from 2011 to 2024. The color interpretation was done with online help from using the Nix Color website. Findings The literature review showed that Indonesia has bountiful natural dye resources. With mordant help, natural dye can create a strong bond with the designated fabric. Aside from improving fastness, mordant can also change the color shade of the finished dyed fabric. As there is also concern about health and environmental problems due to excessive mordant usage, alternative methods have been developed to improve the fastness of the dyed fabric with less mordant. Originality/value This study established a database of Indonesian tropical plants as bioresources for natural dye in textile coloring. The variation of mordant used in the application, pigment content from related plants and potential color shades when applied as textile dye were also included. © 2025 Emerald Publishing Limited