Reactive dyes were developed to improve the washing fastness of cotton dyes. Reactive dyes form covalent bonds with cotton fibers through reactive groups like chlorine or vinyl sulphone that react under alkaline conditions. This provides excellent washing fastness. Reactive dyes have structures like azo dyes but include a reactive group and sulfonate group. They are widely used for cotton dyeing due to their bright colors and versatile dyeing methods. Proper handling is needed as the reactive groups can hydrolyze over time reducing dye reactivity.