Method for marking and fading textiles with lasers

Abstract

The present invention relates to an environmentally safe, water-free method for color fading and for producing patterns on textile materials (1, 10) by exposure to laser radiation (7, 12) of sufficient intensity to cause photo-decomposition of the coloring agent while leaving the underlying textile material undamaged. The pre-dyed material (1, 10), such as denim, is scanned by a laser beam (19, 20) generated by a selected laser having selective output characteristics to produce uniform fading and patterns of photo-bleached marks on the textile material (1, 10). When the laser radiation is modulated at a selected frequency, the fading may take the form of stone washing (18a and 18b), echo ball washing, or acid washing techniques commonly used on denim materials. The patterns (17a and 17b) may take the form of any desired image, line, or picture in the substrate material. For mass production the textile materials may be moved under the laser by a conveyer belt or similar means.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.