Why Garment Dye?

Last Garment Dye Facility in the South

Garment dyeing creates a super-soft and vintage feel that is already broken in. It’s the process of dyeing the garment AFTER it has been sewn and constructed. A majority of clothing gets its color from dyed yarn or fabric.

Part of the charm of a TS Designs t-shirt is that we garment dye them at our 5,000 sq ft garment dye facility in downtown Burlington, NC, a city with a local history rich in textiles.

Our equipment not only allows us to maintain consistent control over the dye outcomes of our t-shirts… it also enables us to provide custom garment dyeing services.

Visit this page to view our standard dye colors.

Keep reading for Dye House Specifications and Custom Garment Dye parameters.

Benefits to Garment Dyeing vs. Traditional Dyeing

Pre-Shrunk and Oh So Comfortable: Garment dyeing creates a super soft and vintage feel that is already broken in.
Faster to Market: Domestic production can mean faster turn around times, vs. ordering products produced in other countries. Because we dye our garments after the shirts are sewn, there is not a limitation on color choices and the customer has greater flexibility on when to determine the garment color.
Smaller Volumes Possible: Our variety of dye tubs allow us to batch dye in smaller quantities.
Minimal Environmental Impact: We are focused on using environmentally responsible dyes. The City of Burlington wastewater treatment plant was built around textiles. It is only a few blocks from us and we are fortunate to have a great relationship with them.
Consistency: We control the variables that assures color consistency and works with our eco-friendly REHANCE™ printing technology.

Dye House Specifications

New! ColorBox3:

This desktop color sampler utilizes a new, more modern version of dyeing apparel which is less labor-intensive and conserves valuable resources like water, energy and CO2. This marks the first step for us toward building a larger, more advanced dye house, positioning us to compete in an industry still ruled by overseas manufacturing. Beyond efficiency, this machine gives us greater control over dye results and supports our mission to make natural dyes a viable alternative in a marketplace dominated by overseas, synthetic, fossil-fuel-based dyes.

Image of the colorbox desktop sample dye machine

Pyrotec 200:

Our Roaches International Ltd Pyrotec machine allows us dye and match colors in much smaller batches, which in turn, greatly improves the time it takes for us to work with our customers who want us to match a specific color for their t-shirt or custom dye orders.

Equipment Specifications

5 Sample and 9 Production Paddle Dye Tubs with the following capacities operating at a 17:1 liquor ratio:

2.5 lbs	7.5 lbs (x3)	15 lbs	26.5 lbs
61 lbs	78 lbs	79 lbs	87 lbs
102 lbs	124 lbs	142 lbs	164 lbs (x2)

2 Extractors

4 Commercial Gas Dryers

100 Horsepower Natural Gas Fired Boiler

Garment Dye Services

We offer garment dye services on natural fibers, with natural threads, such as cotton, wool, or hemp. Poly/cotton blends do not have consistent results. If threads are not natural fiber, they may not dye at all.

We do not offer garment dyeing of individual pieces. Most consumer garments contain synthetic fibers that result in uneven dyeing, and the setup time and liability make single-item processing impractical.

Order Parameters:

Minimum production weight of 60 lbs
Approx 3 week turnaround time standard colors
Additional 2 weeks for custom color matching

Pricing:

Pricing is based upon a per-pound basis (for dyeing) and a per-piece basis (for handling)
Prices will vary depending on color selected and how much handling/packaging is required

Product Requirements for Garment Dye:

Garments must be made with natural fibers.
Garments sewn with cotton thread (unless a contrasting thread is desired)
Softener used in fabric finishing should be non-cationic & non-silicon-based
Product samples required, along with product value, before order acceptance to assess dyeability.

Custom Color Development and Sampling Process

Swatch samples provided on your fabric or ours. (2-3 weeks) $195
Up to 3 matching attempts
Trial submitted for approval
Garment test on full garment with value predetermined, up to 2.2lbs (1-2 weeks) $150
Exact match not guaranteed until first production run.
Production 3-5 weeks after order is approved and 50% deposit.