Avocet Dye and Chemical Company: 21 years of working together with the SDC

Avocet, the West Yorkshire based performance dyestuff and flame-retardant specialist, is one of the SDC’s longest-running company members. We spoke to managing director, Michael Lever, about this relationship. 

Thanks for talking to us, Michael. Can you tell us a little about Avocet’s association with the SDC? 

We joined in April 2001 when the SDC first launched its Patron Status membership. The SDC approached Avocet to see whether we could work together. The answer to this was of course, yes. My dad, Trevor Lever, was the original contact for the SDC and he arranged for us to join. I’m pretty sure we were the first company to get on board through the Patron Status – so a privilege to have been asked, right at the concept’s beginnings. 

It’s great to know the SDC are there – a voice for the industry, maintaining colour and performance standards, offering educational opportunities and inspiring our next generations of dyers and colourists. 

How has Avocet worked together with the SDC and benefited from its services? 

We have always supported the SDC, not just with our company membership but through the individual memberships of key staff members. We have taken advantage of educational offerings where helpful and appropriate, attending lectures and webinars, and any other happenings. 

Our membership helps us to feel connected with the globally based textile coloration sector. Some of us are holders of the honours degree equivalent ASDC and hold chartered colourist (CCol) status. We continue to pursue education certificates, encouraging our laboratory staff through the education and training programmes to enhance their own development – towards ASDC level, hopefully! 

Avocet was founded in 1982 and has become well known for textile dyes and CETAFLAM® fire retardants. What is the secret of your success? 

A passion for technical insight and bespoke solutions.  We continue to find new ways of working together with customers, developing products for ever-advancing applications. We have customers who we’ve been working with us since we began. Our work is all about relationships. 

We pride ourselves on our rapid response to orders and service requests – which lead to real benefits for customers and suppliers, as well as building upon our own knowledge and experience every time. This is what drives us, professionally. 

And what are your sustainability ambitions? 

Sustainability is very important for us and we have been recognised for our public commitment to the ZDHC Gateway programme – seeing our first ever series of products certified to level one compliance in 2020. 

This status – alongside flame retardant OEKO-TEX® certification – represents a formalisation of good environmental practice that has been in place for many years, keeping pace with relentless changes in legislation and requirements. 

We have invested a significant sum in a new auxiliary and flame-retardant plant on site and we’re looking forward to an exciting future! 

• A version of this interview appeared in the SDC’s quarterly magazine for members, The Colourist, in 2021.