Dye a Tilley?

M

MidwestDave

Joined
Oct 3, 2006
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679
Just bought myself a Tilley T4 and like it a lot, except it's a bit bright.
I understand the Canadian Military dipped them into coffee to darken them a bit.
Anybody try this or any other methods?


Thanks,
Dave
 
From what limited info i've found using google, it's quite difficult to make the dye stay on the fabric. I found a small snippet, that says the following:

"The Tilley hats, for those not familiar with them, are a piece of famous outdoor gear produced by a company called, oddly enough, Tilley. They are not, to my knowledge, a standard part of Canadian uniforms, but were bought as a special issue for the troops in Somalia. The Canadian troopers seemed quite pleased with them, so it was no surprise that the order was later given withdrawing permission for them to be worn with the green uniform (after the Canadians had made an attempt to dye all the hats green -- the dye wouldn't hold under the intense Somali sun)."

I also found another snippet of info stating the following:

"Tilley and I were vacationing again - I was totally panicking because I got some pink dye all over and was worried it would be stained....
Sure enough, came out beautifully in the wash!
I wear it proudly everywhere I go."

I'm guessing the waterproofing and pre-shrinking of the fabrics used, makes it difficult for the colors to fix properly to the fabric. Hope this helps.
 
Yeah, I googled it too and found those. I suppose I ought to just wear the hell out of it and use it to sit on in the woods for the summer and color it honestly.
Thanks,
Dave
 
Great hats.

I've worn out two in the Florida heat, and I have two in active rotation. It helps to wash them frequently.
 
brians said:
Isn't that a good thing in the summer sun?
Click to expand...

No.
I am neither a summer person nor a sun person.
I am a rough, ornery, judgemental SOB who dislikes clean white things.
Perhaps a good soaking in some salty brown Fargo street slush would help.



Dave
 
Depending on what color you'd like to reach, I remember taking a trip into Arizona around Sedona & Phoenix. They had Red Rock shirts that had allegedly been dyed with dust from the area and they were a darker reddish brownish color.

Search for red dirt shirt or sedona red dirt dyed shirt you should come up with a link for what the color looks like. If I remember correctly that's the color I recall them being.

The dirt/sediment from that area will stain/dye just about anything. I had to replace some clothes after coming back from that trip. If you like that coloring, I would imagine one would get ahold of some of that dirt, place it in a bucket with water and the chosen item to be dyed and let that bugger soak. Be careful washing it with other stuff for awhile though. I would imagine there may be some transfer to other clothing if you weren't careful at first. I don't know for certain, but hey, worth a try.
 
I've done coffee dyes in the past - and they never come out as dark as you would expect, but it will knock the edge off that "bright white".
make a strong batch of coffee, put it and the hat in a container. Stir a couple of tablespoons of salt to the mix and stir it up, then let the mess sit and soak for about 5 minutes or so. After the soak, add 1/4 cup of vinegar and let it soak some more. If you want a darker almost purplish color, use balsamic or any other sweet wine vinegar, otherwise white or cider vinegar works fine.
stir again nd let it sit for another 5 min.
after this is done, rinse thoroughly in clean water and let it dry to see if it got dark enough to make you happy.
run through the washing machine with a load of darks before wearing.

also - the combination of salt and vinegar may kill the factory waterproofing - so after you're done dying it, you might want to hit it with some camp-dry or other waterproofing spray.
 
If I recall correctly, Dying Tilleys with coffee is written in the original "care and Feeding" section of the instructions.
 
TheZenful1 said:
Depending on what color you'd like to reach, I remember taking a trip into Arizona around Sedona & Phoenix. They had Red Rock shirts that had allegedly been dyed with dust from the area and they were a darker reddish brownish color.

Search for red dirt shirt or sedona red dirt dyed shirt you should come up with a link for what the color looks like. If I remember correctly that's the color I recall them being.

The dirt/sediment from that area will stain/dye just about anything. I had to replace some clothes after coming back from that trip. If you like that coloring, I would imagine one would get ahold of some of that dirt, place it in a bucket with water and the chosen item to be dyed and let that bugger soak. Be careful washing it with other stuff for awhile though. I would imagine there may be some transfer to other clothing if you weren't careful at first. I don't know for certain, but hey, worth a try.
Click to expand...


That's very interesting.
I've taken one vacation trip in the last 20 years and that was to the New Mexico desert following my divorce. I saved a few rocks of colors that appealed to me and still have them. Some are a soft reddish shale type of rock. I'll see if i can pulverize one and make a dye from that. I know I was cleaning red dust from the inside of my van for quite some time after the trip.
It seems a bit more civilized than street slush.




Thanks,
Dave
 
I've never tried it myself, besides what I picked up on my own clothes while hiking and climbing. Yeah, that dust can make a good mess, it's so fine it gets everywhere.
 
I got my Tilley Airflo in Gray so I have no advice for you, but I'm looking to obtain a natural or light tan version for the summer and would appreciate hearing how your color adjustment attempts work out...pics of before and after would be nice!
I love my hat. I never would wear any head gear until I bought a Tilley. Now it is EDC and sort of my trademark around town.
Good luck with yours.

CP
 
My solution, based on life history, would be to try and keep it clean.

:)

Be grimy in a week.
 
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