The reason for dyeing a fabric is obvious – more color = more attention – just as the feathers in the animal kingdom – and let’s be honest, we want to be beautiful and like to be noticed.
So, if we start with a white piece of clothing and then dip it into dyes, something more than just plain white will ensue. Now a single color will soon be just plain also, so historically we started to experiment with different colors and different ways to apply the dye to the fabric.
Tie-dying is the technique to fold or tie the finished garment and then submerse it into the dye. The parts of the garment that are tightly touching each other like in a knot, will not be exposed to the dye or only slightly so.
For example to create stripes we can fold the garment in pleats, and then apply the dye.
The big spiral on the chest that we usually associate with tie-dye is created by laying out the garment flat and then starting in the middle of the chest grabbing the fabric and starting to twist, in the process folding pleats in a circular pattern.
The mudmee style of tie-dye used in producing the hoodies, henleys and tanks of JustZen.com is very different and is pretty much native to parts of South-East Asia. Our artist Gigi, who creates our items, was allowed to study the techniques used in that area only after promising to kept this process and technique very secret. So, sorry to everybody who wants to know how we do it, she can’t tell you 🙁
