December 1, 2022

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

A little-known fact about today’s fashion industry is that the vast majority of the dye currently used to color the jeans we wear is not made from indigo, as I always assumed, but is synthetic, made through petroleum-based processes involving toxic chemicals.

Since its inception in 2012, Tennessee-based Stony Creek Colors has been working to address this issue by developing proprietary systems to transform the entire agricultural value chain for plant-based indigo.

Company founder and CEO Sarah Bellos said that she launched the company when she and her sister began a company that offered naturally-dyed clothing, but discovered that a supply chain for natural dye at scale didn’t exist.

Today, being the only industrial scale manufacturer of 100 percent natural bio-based indigo, Stony Creek Colors has attracted some high-profile backers, announcing its completion of a $4.8 million Series B2 co-led by the company’s long-standing partner Lewis & Clark AgriFood and Levi Strauss & Co. 

“Today, the synthetic indigo used in denim relies on petroleum-based processes that leave behind toxic residue on jeans,” said Bellos last year. “Stony Creek Color’s plant-made indigo is free of these toxins, providing a healthier and more sustainable solution for coloring denim. In addition, our indigo-producing crops create a high value rotation opportunity for farmers, sequester carbon in the soil, and reduce the need for nitrogen fertilizers.”

Certified by the USDA BioPreferred Program, Stony Creek has developed a vertically integrated model offering full traceability from the farm level, successfully growing, harvesting, and processing its proprietary indigo varieties on more than 500 acres of farmland.

Spanning Tennessee, Kentucky, and Florida, the company’s natural indigo process fixes nitrogen and captures more carbon than it produces. For farmers, it enables environmental improvements and gives growers the ability to boost soil fertility or interrupt pest cycles by rotating their farmland with Stony Creek Colors’ tropical indigo – giving them a new revenue stream while also meeting regenerative benchmarks.

“Stony Creek Colors was founded on the idea of harnessing naturally occurring chemicals in plants, to solve fashion industry challenges while giving farmers a profitable regenerative rotational crop,” said Bellos.

It also eliminates the inefficiencies that have historically plagued plant-based indigo production, to allow for a high-purity dye suitable for industrial denim customers, while also providing soil health-enriching, climate-positive, renewable color chemistries as demand continues to grow in the fashion and textile markets. 

The company has also gained a reputation for its innovations in new dye applications and customer point-of-use for their natural chemistry. Earlier this year, Stony Creek Colors launched IndiGold®, the first plant-derived, pre-reduced indigo for denim mills, with global special chemicals leader Archroma – delivering a long sought-after commercial drop-in solutions for industrial denim production.

This investment from Levi Strauss comes five years after an initial collaboration with Stony Creek Colors through which the company’s plant-based dyes were piloted as part of Levi Strauss’ Wellthread® collection – a living R&D lab addressing design and manufacturing challenges for the creation of a more sustainable future. 

“Our past collaboration with Levi Strauss & Co. as a customer allowed us to bring important denim supply chain innovations, such as IndiGold®, to life. This equity round initiates our next phase of long-term growth,” said Bellos. 

Paul Dillinger, head of global product innovation, Levi Strauss & Co. added, “Our work with Stony Creek on the Levi’s® brand and our Wellthread® collections has shown the potential of plant-based dyes. We’re excited to get more involved with the company by supporting its efforts to bring plant-based dyeing alternatives to market at scale.”

The company stated that with the capital from this funding round it will further refine its proprietary system for plant-derived indigo, further scale up its farming infrastructure and the dye extraction process, and bring regenerative solutions to farmers and the textile industry.

Tim Hassler, managing director, Lewis & Clark AgriFood, commented, “Stony Creek’s 2021 investment round allowed for the expansion of its production into a more tropical region where its improved plant genetics are well suited. With this current investment round, the company is poised to reach a greater scale in agricultural production and processing to meet growing demand for clean colors in the textile industry.”

~ Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor in chief with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Unconventional Ag. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.

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