Category Archives: Naturally dyed garments

Natutally Dyed T Shirts and Aprons

Pomegranate

Well the order for the Eden Project, aprons dyed with tea and coffee, have all been safely delivered.  I am genuinely proud of them.  The are of great quality, the weight of fabric and the construction and the colour……I love the strong but somehow, still soft colour.

We decided to have some made to hold in stock for potential new customers.  It is this type of judgement  that we have to make – to hold stock or not?   Do we take the risk of buying garments without having confirmed customers or do we wait for customers and then manufacture to order for them?

I have made a few mistakes – and although I realise that this is the only way to learn – my mistakes are not my most favourite thing. For example I have lots of organic bar aprons in both unbleached and black fabric, but I have found that we have had sold far more of our Fairtrade and organic bibbed aprons – the bar aprons wait patiently (but not me).

Naturally dyed garments in our industry (company clothing, uniforms) are a step ahead. It will take us a while to find the customers who are committed and leaders themselves to take this route with us.

We have had t shirt fabric manufactured and dyed so that we can show potential customers. Currently we have pomegranate, madder, coffee,  tea plus swatches of a huge range of other colours we can supply using less familiar plants found in India.  My favourite colour at the moment is the beautiful orange dye made with the skin of pomegranate.

My current idea (as I am writing this) is to ask Jenny and Ros to come up with a print design for the front of  naturally dyed T shirts. A design that gets across the message of “Dyeing for change”.  We will then print it, or embroider it and see if we can find a committed organisation who would like to use it for their uniform or to sell in their shops to promote the idea of dyeing naturally.

Maybe there is a museum out there whose theme will be dyeing,  or textiles, or sustainability and the idea will fit perfectly

……Well it’s Sunday and I am expecting a visitor so I have to stop thinking about business and start 1. to tidy the house 2. to think about preparing food (maybe a picnic).  But before I go,  if you are interested in “the perfect t shirt”  take a look at  http://www.betterthinking.co.uk/perfect/ I found this article sometime ago and found it useful and interesting.

Eden Project and natural dyes

Ros & Jenny coffee and tea dyed aprons

We are excited!  The Eden Project has decided to place an order for our aprons. Some dyed with tea and some dyed with coffee. When I visited India Sian and I spent some time visiting Aura Textiles where Sonal, Arun, Mukul and Nishith looked after us so well and proudly showed us their factory. The garments they make for us are dyed organically using plants and herbs to make beautiful, long lasting colours. I was so keen to try and develop this idea in the UK. The factory was fascinating, protective equipment was not needed, unlike chemical dying and the waste water can be used as fertilizer.

The Eden Project as ambassadors for the plant kingdom decided that our aprons would be perfect to add to their merchandise range.  The cotton is organic and certified Fairtrade. 

Pomegranate being used to create an orange dye