The new initiative I mentioned a little earlier
"Turn your dirty T-shirts and hoodies
to black and wear them again!"
I had a meeting and discussion with Kyoto Montsuki,
who will be dyeing the black!
First, what kind of company does it do?
From traditional industry to innovative industry
We are a company that dyes kimonos black.
Apparently, if a kimono gets dirty, it's dyed black before wearing it.
This has been a custom for a long time.
But now we're transferring that to Western clothing,
dying shirts, hoodies, pants, T-shirts, blousons, etc.
pitch black.
Kimonos are made of silk and other materials, so they are a bit different,
but we use that know-how to provide a service that dyes "cotton" and "wool"
to make them completely black!
Black liquid is poured into this drum to dye the fabric.
It seems like it will dye black easily,
but it doesn't dye that easily
and once you dye it black,
it comes off easily in the wash.
To prevent it from coming off, there is a temperature that fixes the color, and
between "glossy black" and "matte black",
the "matte black" looks blacker,
so we finish it off with a matte finish at the very end.
Originally, it was a traditional craft called Kuromontsuki from Kyoto,
but now, there are only about three companies
that make this traditional craft in Kyoto Prefecture.
There used to be around 200 companies,
but now there are only three
and those three are the only ones that do black dyeing
This company and one other company are the only ones that do black dyeing for Western clothes
The other one only does kimonos.
As these traditional industries are disappearing,
it is hard to imagine that they will increase in the future.
But Kyoto Montsuki's company is thinking about
whether they can repurpose it for clothing, and whether they can make their customers
happy by doing it with clothing.
Each item is individually numbered.
For example, if I asked for my T-shirt,
they would dye it black and number it 1025.
Does the one that says 1025 not dye?
This is polyester, so it won't dye,
so it's numbered like this.
So it won't stain polyester clothes.
Without the individual numbers,
everything would be black,
so it would be impossible to tell what was what.
Source: Kyoto Montsuki
At first, I had yellow and red T-shirts,
but after dyeing them, they turned black and became hard to tell,
so I number them to keep track of them.
The bucket contains a sand-like black dye,
which is a "reactive dye,"
and I was told that it is a reactive dye, not a pigment,
and that it is used for dyeing.
"Reactive dyes": Dyes that react chemically with fibers to dye them
I think that if you wear them,
your black pants or long sleeve T-shirts will start to get thinner,
but the ones sold by Japan Made
even the threads are made of cotton, so they all get dyed black.
I'm thinking of using the service for other companies' products as well,
but if I use polyester thread, the thread won't dye,
and the stitching will remain white.
Basically, Japan Made is 100% cotton
Everything from the strings to everything else is made of cotton, so they all dye well
I hope that by dyeing them black, they can be used for a long time.
I went to Kyoto Montsuki Co., Ltd.
to get my hoodie and black pants dyed black,
It will be completed soon,
so please look forward to it!
