The focus here is on the manufacturers of dyes and chemicals and the author singles out DyStar and Ciba’s new dyes and chemicals business as global leaders in this field. Other major players mentioned include Clariant and Yorkshire Group and BASF’s chemicals business. Major technical progress and research and development is said to be in the hands of these international businesses that on average spend 5% of turnover on these factors and consequently control most innovations in the industry. Innovations singled out for mention are digital ink-jet printing and electro-chemical dyeing. The product of cooperative research between dye/chemical companies and machinery companies is exemplified by a new high performance digital ink-jet printing machine from machine manufacturer Reggiana in cooperation with Ciba. The new machine may allow production scale digital ink-jet printing. Also mentioned is the result of a ten-year effort by Clariant that has produced a new range of environmentally friendly dyes for cotton and polyamides.