How to Buy the Perfect Tie Dye Garment Made Just for You

Q: Isn’t tie dye just a shirt and some dye?

A: No, I mean yes that’s true, but high quality tie dye that will last for years and feel great to wear, that’s what we’re after here.

Q: Is Tie Dye art?

A: That is a subjective question, true art is as they say “in the eye of the beholder”. There is also the idea that painting a building is not the same as painting a 3 story mural on the side of the building. In the same sense there is production tie dyeing where a maker will repeat the same pattern over and over and offer basically the same shirt in 6 or 7 sizes and several shirt styles. Nothing particularly wrong with that if that’s your thing. Worse yet, some shirts are produced in a factory setting and more often that not the pattern is printed, not handmade. We’ll get into this more in a moment.

Then again there are real, honest to goodness tie dye artists that handmake each piece often using painstaking methods that take many hours. So yes, tie dye can be and is an art form.

So how can you tell? this is where buyer beware comes in and again this is somewhat subjective but let’s dive in and explore.

It all starts with a blank shirt

If you are fortunate enough to buy tie dye from an artist at an event where you can see, touch, and feel a garment, you will know right away. First, touch it between your fingers. Does it feel thick and soft? Thick being important here because even thin synthetic garments can be soft, good shirts just feel better. Brand’s matter. Brands to go for are Gildan (our favorite), Hanes Beefy-T, and Tultex. There are other fine brands but what you want to make sure is that they are 100% cotton, hemp, or rayon (yes rayon is a natural fiber and dyes well). Quality shirts have a “weight” rating. Described as Xoz. where the higher the number for X, the better. As an example Gildan shirts are 6.1 oz weight. Any shirt 5.0 oz or less is not the quality we like. Another thing to look for is no white thread showing in the finished product. White thread is not necessarily bad (just means it is synthetic) but I’m not big on the look of it. If you like the look and it is otherwise good quality by all means buy it. If you are buying online, ask about their blanks, a reputable maker will happily answer your questions. .

Quality dye is to dye for

Next, apart from the design, are the colors vivid and saturated on the shirt, yet still have distinctive color divisions? Or does the shirt already look like its been washed 100 times with white areas showing? Now to be fair, some very talented artists like some white for definition reasons. But too much in our opinion is not quality. Beyond that “look” factor there is chemistry involved. No there will not be a quiz. The natural fibers mentioned above are named for a reason. Their fibers “react” with the dye when applied correctly. The same reason that dye will not stick to synthetic thread in the stitching is why we like and need 100% cotton, hemp, or rayon. A shirt that is say 50% cotton and 50% polyester will only absorb dye in the cotton and be rejected by the poly and the shirt will look pretty terrible. The “fiber reactive” dyes we use actually chemically bond to the fibers, they aren’t like cheap dyes that merely stain the fabric and wash out quickly over time. If your maker isn’t using a “fiber reactive procion” dye, we think you should pass. We proudly use Dharma Trading Company Procion Dyes.

You get what you pay for

You can’t buy a Lexus for the price of a KIA. Nothing necessarily wrong with a KIA but will you get a Lexus? NO. In the world of tie dye there are plenty of cheap shirts. Ok there’s a market for that I guess. But the price of a shirt will tell you a lot about all the other points we have made. Cheap blanks, cheap dyes, and repetitive designs are what you’ll get for $10 - $20. Now, really cheap shirts, just look on the inside of the shirt, the part that will touch your body, if the color isn’t all the way through the side, it’s a printed shirt, not a hand made tie dye.

Expensive shirts? Yup sometimes in the 4 figures and I’m not counting the .00, I’m saying more than $1000. Now we’re talking Ferrari money not Lexus money. That’s where the eye of the beholder really comes in. And that is you.

We adhere to the standards we have presented. We are confident that we sell only top quality tie dye garments at reasonable prices with designs that people like and feel good in. Please feel free to check out the rest of the site and feel good about the products you see, they are the best quality tie dye that we can offer!!

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