Frequently asked questions:

1.  Will the colors bleed or fade?
           No more than any factory-dyed cotton garment you'd buy in a store.  We use a commercial-quality, fiber-reactive dye called Procion, which is the same dye used for 99% of all dyed cotton products. . .not the cheap dye you can buy at the grocery or craft store.
           We are experienced and very careful with our chemical process, making sure that all the dye reacts and gets "fixed" to the fabric.  Then, just to make sure, we wash our tie-dyes 3 times after the dyeing process (once in cold, twice in very hot water) so that whatever dye is left when you buy it is pretty much there for good!  See our process page for more information.
           The one thing you don't want to do is to leave a colored cotton garment soaking wet for an extended period of time!  Some limited bleeding can begin to occur after a while.  If this happens by accident, and you get some bleeding or "back-staining", don't panic!  The dye is almost completely chemically inactive by the time you get the tie-dye.  As long as it doesn't sit there for a day or two in that condition, a good hot wash should remove the "unfixed" back-stains without harming the "fixed" dye.

2.  How should I wash my new Kind Dye?
           Like any colored cotton garment, wash in cold or warm water with like colors, and dry promptly.  Of course, washing in cold will keep the colors brighter over time, but we usually wash our own personal tie-dyes in warm, and they don't lose their color very fast at all.

3.  Do you have wholesale prices?
           Currently, there are only two of us producing all of this, and we can only make so many.  We sell about 90% of everything we can make in the course of a year at our arts and crafts shows (which is our main outlet) and on this website, for retail prices.  There is usually very little motivation to wholesale.
           However, there are exceptions.  During slow times, especially in the winter months, we sometimes work in a few wholesale orders, so it's worth checking with us.  We never wholesale "Type 1" t-shirts.
           Maybe when our kids are a little older we'll be able to increase our production and fill more wholesale orders!

4.  Do you ever do custom orders or take requests?
           Sometimes.  Like wholesale, it often depends on how busy we are at the time.  If you want something similar to an item you see here on the website, just a different size or color, or perhaps another like one that has already sold, e-mail us and we'll do our best to make it for you, although there is no guarantee on the time scale.
        Please include the stock number of the item you are referencing, but keep in mind that no two are ever exactly alike!
           We do not create custom designs.  Over the years we have come up with more than 200 different tie-dye patterns, and continue to invent new ones. . .but creating a new "tie" (way of folding and binding that will achieve a certain design) is much more difficult than most people realize!

5.  How can I tell whether a t-shirt or other garment will fit?
           Refer to the "About Sizes" page (button at left).  We understand that shopping for clothing online is difficult, since you can't try things on.  That's one reason why we extend a very liberal return policy to our customers (see "About Returns" at left).  You don't ever have to worry about getting stuck with a Kind Dye that doesn't fit.

6.  What if I need a t-shirt size bigger than XXXL, or smaller than Youth XS?
           We've found that individuals outside the range of these sizes are generally more satisfied with the fit of a garment they've picked out themselves.
           So, the best way to handle this is for you to buy white, 100% Cotton!  shirts that fit you, and mail them to us with your request:
                 The Kind Dyes
                    P.O. Box 22
                    Montezuma, NM 87731
           It's usually best to e-mail us first to make sure we are in town, and to refer to particular stock numbers when requesting patterns.  

7.  I have an item of my own that I'd like tie-dyed.  Can you do that for me?
           Usually.  E-mail us first, and remember that all items must be 100% cotton.  Procion dye will not react with synthetic fibers!  Also, the shape of some garments prevents them from being folded in certain designs.  In general, "Type 1" patterns can only be achieved on regular t-shirts and flat tapestries.  Even the pocket on a "Pocket Tee" can get in the way sometimes!  Mail your white (or pastel) cotton items to the address listed in Question #6.

8.  Do you tie-dye dresses, sarongs, shorts, underwear, or other specialty garments?
           Keeping up with the demand for our t-shirts keeps us very busy. . .even overwhelmed sometimes!  There are so many different styles and sizes of dresses and other garments that we couldn't possibly offer a cohesive selection.  It's also hard to do complicated folds on most specialty garments (see Question #7).  And they are even harder than t-shirts to shop for, without the opportunity to try them on.
           So, we prefer for you to buy the garment and follow the instructions in Question #7.  Occasionally, we come across a great deal on some white specialty garments, and offer the finished tie-dyes for sale on the website.  Check the very bottom of the Pink Chart on the WEARABLE ART home page.

9.  Can I place an order without a credit card?
           Sure!  During checkout, you will be offered different payment options.  You can choose to pay with a check or money order that you mail to us, and the shopping cart will instruct you on how to do this.  We can't ship the order until we receive your check in the mail, but we will mark the item(s) "SOLD" and hold them for two weeks or more while we wait on your payment.
           We are also looking into offering other alternative payment methods soon, such as PayPal and online checks.

10.  Can I have a gift shipped directly to its recipient?
           You bet!  There's nothing more special than a one-of-a-kind, handcrafted gift as individual as the person receiving it.  During checkout, choose the order form that has separate billing and shipping address fields.  We'll send your gift straight to that special person, no matter where they are in the world!  There is even a space where you can enter a short greeting or sentiment, which we will include in the package.

11.  Who manages your website?
           We do the website all by ourselves!  It is still pretty new (we went online in March 2000 and started selling online in August 2000), and we are still learning and improving it.  We are always thrilled to receive suggestions and feedback from our customers.

12.  Why don't you use fancy graphics and animation on your site?
           We feel that, for the most part, these are "gimmicks" that distract from the main agenda of the site, which is the simple beauty of our artwork, and also unnecessarily increase your download time for our pages.  While we like to make the site look nice, and appear professional, we believe the visual impact of our work can stand on its own, without these extraneous embellishments.

13.  How often do you add new items to the website?
           There is no simple answer to this one, because it can vary so much.  The average time between updates is about two weeks, and the maximum should be about five weeks.
           In general, our whole life revolves around our Show Calendar, and the cycles of tie-dye production that support it.  Everything else gets worked in between, including website management.  The frequency of updates can also be affected by how fast we are selling stuff online. 
           The "bulletin board" in the middle of our home page is there for the purpose of keeping you informed about our current itinerary, news, announcements, etc.  It always shows the date of the most recent updates.  You can browse through samples from these most recent additions using the "NEWEST TIE-DYED T-SHIRTS" link on the home page.  These two features allow our frequent visitors to quickly and easily check for new stuff right from the home page, without "digging in" to the Wearable Art section.

14.  Where did you learn to tie-dye like this?
           In 1993 we were shown the basics of the process by a guy named Ron Davis (see our Tie-Dye Links Page).  By the "basics" I mean the chemistry of activating the dye, which materials to use, and a few simple patterns like the spiral, the heart, and the starburst.  We also got a few tips from another professional, David Fox.
           Beyond that introduction, almost all of the designs you see here, along with the long list of subtle techniques used to achieve them, are entirely our own creation.  We're talking thousands upon thousands of hours of trial-and-error!
           Later, we came across information about ancient African tie-dye techniques that were similar to the direction we were heading with it, which is quite a bit different from the "hippie" techniques you're probably familiar with, and were somewhat influenced by those styles.  More recently we have grown fond of Japanese shibori, which is really just another word for tie-dye, and have studied some of the amazingly intricate techniques that the Japanese have been using for centuries.
           Please see this detailed description of Our Process.

15.  Didn't I see you on Dead Tour once?
           Probably not, unless it was in the early Spring of 1993, on the East Coast.  This was the only time we were ever on Tour, and we had just begun to learn to tie-dye, although we did sell a few.  Our primary point-of-sale has always been at street festivals and juried arts and crafts shows.  And our favorite music is stuff like Black Sabbath, Metallica, Kiss, Led Zeppelin, and old-school Van Halen.  The Grateful Dead are OK too, though...