Label Type
Cultural/Historical ContextLabel
Prior to the invention of synthetic dyes, green was a difficult color to achieve. Textiles were first dyed yellow using turmeric or dyer's weld, then dyed again with blue from woad or indigo. This labor-intensive process often led to inconsistent results, making green-dyed fabrics costly. This changed somewhat with the creation of the arsenic-based Scheeles green (1775) and Paris green (1814) but it was not until the mid-19th century that synthetic dyes became abundant.
These artificial colorants eventually revolutionized access to the highly sought-after color.
