Dye-Time is not Tye-Dye
When Nicola approached me to write a column for liveeco, I’ll admit to being a little stymied. Excited and keen to get involved (!!) as matters green are close to my heart, but stymied nonetheless…
I’ve always recycled, but this year I’m making an extra effort: using energy saving light bulbs, actively switching off lights and conserving energy wherever I can, buying organic produce that isn’t packaged or is in recyclable packaging and using shoppers versus plastic packets (I have five bags vicariously floating in the car so that I always have one to hand).
But those of course are the obvious choices and what escaped me were the less obvious ways one can make small changes to your lifestyle that will add up to a nice, tidy savings account for our children’s futures.
As a lover of all things clothing related – my simultaneous vice and passion – the excitement quickly turned into relish at the prospect of snooping out ways to create a greener wardrobe (no this does not involve hanging sprigs of lavender in it)… So now each week I shall share one little nugget of information for you to use or lose, but hopefully use, as well as a product I’m crazy about.
Tip One: Recession-busting-Repurposing (?)
Definition = to rescue items of clothing from the doldrums of your wardrobe by dying…
Take a deep breath and dive into the caverns of your wardrobe, scrounge out those items lurking in the recesses that are looking a bit tired and worn. In particular dark items that are looking lack lustre and those you have never worn because the colour doesn’t really do anything.
Next, locate a company like Zamfos Dyers (5 Howe Street, Observatory, tel: 021 448 0877) and bundle yourself and your clothes into a car (and if you can carpool with a friend who’s done the same you get extra brownie points).
Next, deal with one of the very nice ladies there and select from a colour chart the colours you want to dye your clothes. Then two weeks later collect dyed clothing and voila it’s like you’ve been on a shopping spree!
Tips for dying: garments with synthetic fibre in them will not dye as well as natural fibre garments – cotton, silks and linens will lap colour up. Also one cannot dye a dark colour light (duh).
We love this service because: you pay by the kilo but can split your bundle according into little colour piles. Also you’re maximising the shelf life of your garments this way…
Our find of the week:
I instantaneously fell in love with these beautiful leather necklaces at Misfit, top of Long Street in Cape Town… A product of the clever Chloe Townsend’s Missibaba range they not only pick up on the Fluoro trend (folks you’re going to be needing sunnies on our streets and not from the sun’s glare – fluorine colour is going to explode) they are also made from the leather off-cuts from her bag and belt production.
And what’s more it’s also sustainable fashion as the pieces are produced by a community-development group of women and the profits are ploughed back into this business. They get a ten out of ten on the cool, green products scale.
