Have you ever thought about what it would look like if you covered the T-shirt you wear every day with a special dye?
Indigo is a forest plant widely grown in the northern mountainous regions, so indigo dyeing has also become the main livelihood of the Red Dao, Mong, H’Mong… besides other fields and ditches.
Each shirt represents the passion of the dyers
The reason why indigo dyers often say `no` to the mass production method is because it takes them about 1 year and 3 months to get a finished shirt.
Each ethnic group in each locality will have its own dyeing method.
With each product made, the dyer always wants to put into it all his enthusiasm for the traditional craft village that has been preserved and developed for generations.
The process of dyeing indigo fabric includes 3 main steps: making indigo paste, indigo dyeing and alkaline dyeing.
All stages from growing indigo, harvesting, making indigo paste and dyeing fabric are done by hand.
The special feature of the indigo dyeing method is that it uses completely natural or self-produced ingredients.
After being mixed with a mixture of kitchen ash water, lime and homemade wine, the indigo extract will be fermented for about 4-5 days.
Not only used for dyeing, indigo also has medicinal uses and is used to apply to skin wounds.
blue indigo – village story through `blue` shirts
Some domestic fashion brands have applied the manual indigo dyeing method to provide sustainable, environmentally safe options such as Kilometer 109 by designer Vu Thao.
Sharing with ELLE readers about this special project, Ms. Tuyen – founder and CEO of The Blue T-shirt said, Blue Indigo is the first step in the plan to bring modern, convenient products.
The indigo blue hands of a dyer.
“Furthermore, with Blue Indigo, we can also create additional income for H’mong people in the highlands.
Inspired by the dyers who are dedicated to their profession, Ms. Tuyen cherishes many sustainable development projects in the future: `I want to apply the traditional craft or fabric making method of Vietnamese people to these products.`