He asked advice of Scottish dye works owner Robert Pullar, who assured him that manufacturing the dye would be well worth it if the colour remained fast.

Utilising the cheap and plentiful coal tar that was an almost unlimited byproduct of London's gas street lighting, the dye works began producing the world's first synthetically dyed material in 1857.

Susana Patino, a Hispanic-American born in Texas, works at a local tool-and-dye business. Her husband, born in Mexico, has been promoted at Hormel.