You’re Gonna Die for This, I-Dye!

Even wardrobe professionals who pride themselves on their “teching” prowess bemoan the entire time consuming process with the light as dust granules floating everywhere, including up your nose and speckling the whole work area making for a painful cleanup. Well, it looks like, for many dyeing projects this tedious, polluting process can be relegated to “In my day…” stories. The reason for this leap into the 21st century is a new product by Jacquard called i-Dye. No, Steve Jobs is not involved, though the simplicity of this product reflects his style.

The dye comes in a soluble packet that you simply drop into a washing machine filled with hot water. Wardrobe supervisor Mark Burchard was one of our first customers to try the product and he was wowed by it. He advises you wait the recommended full ten minutes for dispersal before adding your clothes (each packet will dye a two to three pound load). Cheryl’s personal trick is to add two to three drops of dish soap to aid the dye dispersal regardless of the product you use.

The directions call for the addition of salt when you add the dye, Mr. Burchard chose not to because he wanted to be able to tweak the color after seeing the finished product. He was teching tee shirts; we’ve all been there, ugh! The salt, as all you pros know, sets the color. When Mr. Burchard saw the finished product he “found the color a little too intense,”. Another run through a full cycle and voila another quick cycle with the salt and he had exactly what he wanted.

As for cleanup, Mr. Burchard says, “I simply put in a load of dark clothes and ran it through. No muss, no fuss.”

Unlike most other companies, i-dye carries a polyester dye. While there are currently only eight colors, it presents a readily available, easy option for your polyesters. Remember too, you can open the packages and custom mix among the eight choices to increase your options. Of course, this opens up the whole messy process, but it is an option.

Of course, every product has its limitations. The very ease of use limits your ability to get truly custom colors. There are 38 color choices that can be tweaked only so much without breaching the package. For professional dyers or if you want an exact shade…”the 39th color”, I’m afraid, for these jobs you’re back to the traditional methods. For the basics, though, this is a case where we can now let out a cheer of “Ain’t progress grand,” for our time, health and the health of our environment.

TOMMY (with Roger Kimpton)