October 15, 2016

The Magic of Hand Dyed Fashion

(quick update from the KOOSHOO team: our kids pants are no longer being manufactured, but we now have a host of other unisex accessories for all your hair needs!)

Batik - the dye style that has become synonymous with our brand. It was first featured in our collection of incredibly popular hand dyed ENSO headbands and, after an unexpected turn of events, became the focal point of our brand new, already-quick-selling Kids Pants.

On paper, Batik dyeing goes a little something like this:

1) Cover the garment or fabric 100% in hot wax

2) Once the wax has set, crack the wax to create negative space

3) Dye the garment so that the dye reaches only the fabric that is no longer under wax

4) Remove wax and marvel at the one-of-a-kind art you've just created

In actuality Batik dyeing is more art than science and you never know what you're going to get until the fabric has dried. We do our dyeing in one of the world's only solar powered dye houses in sunny California, working alongside a team of brilliant Batik artists that meticulously hand dye every canvas and pair of Kids Pants we make.

We try to get every batch perfect but, as with any art, sometimes the result is something completely unexpected. That's art and mistakes like those are how we ended up making Kids Pants in the first place.

We work with this the material every day and are still absolutely enthralled by the beauty of it.

One canvas of our hand dyed organic cotton like this creates a few dozen of our ENSO Batik Headbands. (It could also create about 10 pairs of our quick-selling, uber popular Kids Pants.)

What gets me is the thought that not only is this magnificent piece - that can never be exactly recreated - going to be sweated on, rained on, lost then found, celebrated in, cried in, laughed in, danced in and loved in by 24 perfect strangers around the world but that those strangers each hold a piece to a puzzle that, unbeknownst to them, binds them one to another.

I imagine 24 people representing every continent, race, religion and orientation gathering one day to piece this original canvas back together, sharing their unique stories and toasting to the common threads that bind us all.

Or at the very least: 24 happy customers around the world that are stoked to have found a piece of fashion as wondrously unique as themselves.

Some recent shots from our summer 2016 Batik dyeing (now shipping)...