how do you dye a t-shirt with beer?

Question

I was in Hawaii a few weeks ago on vacation and several t-shirt stores sell t-shirts that we dyed with beer. They are a brownish yellow color and until they're washed they actually smell like beer as well. They also had ash dyed, chocolate dyed, kona coffee dyed and several more.

Answer 1

Ah, it sounds like you're talking about the "specialty dye" t-shirts that are made by Crazy Shirts (http://www.crazyshirts.com/deptbycolor.cfm?dept=004).

I'm not sure how they dye these shirts...but considering the vivid colors they get with these dyes, I suspect that they don't necessarily dye the shirts with the item of choice (i.e. beer, wine, coffee, etc.) since they are pretty watered down and would not make good textile dyes. They probably somehow extract the colors from these items and add in additional chemicals to create a proprietary textile dye.

If you're curious enough, I guess you can always write Crazy Shirts to see if they'll disclose a general description of the process. You probably won't get much detail since the process is likely patented, but it's worth a shot!

Answer 2

I would assume that you would mix beer, and vinegar together and soak a white shirt in the solution for hours and hours.
The vingear is to set the color. and then line dry it. then wash it in cold water each and everytime you do.
Kind of a waste of beer though.

Answer 3

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