Club Obi Wan

I really enjoy the cut and fit of Todd's shirt but the color has always been too yellow for what I perceive Indy's shirt to be. I've been soaking the shirt in a bucket of cold water with some bleach mixed in for hours at a time in an attempt to lighten it, and the color has hardly budged. I think it's gotten slightly lighter, but my eyes could just be tricking me. I've decided I want to use some RIT dye remover and completely rid the shirt of any color and redye it from there. I remember on the old indy gear site there were instructions on a how to redye an Indy shirt but I can't seem to find them anymore. Does anybody know the recipe for the redye?

The kindly Dalexs has a great NH redye tutorial on his site http://dalexs.whitvani.net/shirt/shirtFAQ.html Looks easy yet intimidating. Hope this helps!

Randy

Yes! Those are the original instructions I remember seeing. Thanks!

You're welcome! Glad it was what you needed.. I thought it could have been.

This looks like great info, especially regarding the Rit Dye Remover. My personal opnion is that bleach can add to the deterioration of the shirt fabric. Once I decide to do mine, I'll only be using the RIT without the bleach to get the job done. Wish me luck!

Indiana Jake

I'll be interested to see how it goes for you Falco.

I used this method to redye my MBA shirt a few years ago. I want to give you one word of caution - be very careful with the temperature of the water that you submerge the shirt in to remove the dye as well as the water you do the redye in. If it's too hot, you can crack the buttons on the shirt.

I would suggest either removing them completely prior to the process (especially if you change the color a lot - you'll most likely have to replace them with closer matching buttons anyway), or watching the temperature of the water VERY CLOSELY. Don't let it reach boiling or close to boiling.

I hope this info helps. Good luck with the redye.

-Craig

It is believed that the British army first adopted khaki colour in arid countries after enlisted men started dying their too visible whites in tea in India.
Progressively darker shades of khaki were achieved by boiling the shirts for longer in stronger solutions of tea. This didn't shrink the shirts only because they were pre-shrunk Indian cotton.
As a rule of thumb the cotton will dry half as dark as it looks wrung out but wet.
Put the tea leafs in a seperate muslin bag unless you want lots of dirty looking spots on the cotton for a more distressed effect.
By the way, soaking in tea is excellent for turning plain white paper into aged wrinkled paper.

I beleive the tutorial says to bring the all the baths to a simmer, not boil.
Boiling may also cause undo shrinkage.

I'm not a big fan of bleach bath either. I think it does more damage then good.

Keep in mind, depending on what Todds shirts are made of and how the material is dyed, you may need a few ##### in the dye bath to lighten it.

It may be the same situation that a bunch of us went thru with LLBean shirts.
Those buggers are impossible to lighten (easily!)

Good luck.

thanks for chiming Dalexs in much appreciated!

So- Has anyone had any luck re-dyeing the Todd's shirt? How were you able to get the original color out? I just ran mine though the washer with a packet of color remover, and nothing happened. Oh well!

Indiana Jake

I've bleached some LL Bean shirts, wish I'd just got cement colour

Lot of bleach, half half water....lots of shaking....and a better colour for about 1-2 hours

And it does stress the cotton a bit....and gives an older appearance....plus my dog chewed a bit ....instant distressing

I'm stovetopping mine as I type - so far no apparent color change.

Good luck- let us know how it turns out

NIBS

Finally got around to tackling the redye job on Todd's shirt and I seem to have hit a snag. I put two packets of color remover in hot water in a bucket and submerged the shirt. It turned the shirt pink like its supposed to at first, however it didn't do much else after that. It's soaking as we speak so hopefully if I leave it in long enough it will remove the remaining color.

update: The pinkness rinsed off in cold water and I threw the shirt in the wash. After washing the color appears........ pretty much the same as when i started. Anyone got any idea how to remove the color from Todd's shirts?

"I think YOU've got a big problem here!"

NIBS

Falco09 wrote:Finally got around to tackling the redye job on Todd's shirt and I seem to have hit a snag. I put two packets of color remover in hot water in a bucket and submerged the shirt. It turned the shirt pink like its supposed to at first, however it didn't do much else after that. It's soaking as we speak so hopefully if I leave it in long enough it will remove the remaining color.

update: The pinkness rinsed off in cold water and I threw the shirt in the wash. After washing the color appears........ pretty much the same as when i started. Anyone got any idea how to remove the color from Todd's shirts?

Do it again.

I did the same to my LL Bean shirt, and it just took a few times for it to reach the best color.

Best advice I can give is to be patient, and don't overdo it in each session if you want to keep the shirt's structural integrity and keep it from becoming splotchy.

I concurr! After using just a pack of Rit color remover on my Todd's shirt, No luck!

Jake

Yikes! Those shirts must have been dipped in polyurethane enamel! I almost bought
one myself, but the color ( and it is quite yellow ) put me off. Hopefully, you guys will
eventually have some luck at removing the original color - keeping fingers crossed!

Zach R. wrote:

Falco09 wrote:Finally got around to tackling the redye job on Todd's shirt and I seem to have hit a snag. I put two packets of color remover in hot water in a bucket and submerged the shirt. It turned the shirt pink like its supposed to at first, however it didn't do much else after that. It's soaking as we speak so hopefully if I leave it in long enough it will remove the remaining color.

update: The pinkness rinsed off in cold water and I threw the shirt in the wash. After washing the color appears........ pretty much the same as when i started. Anyone got any idea how to remove the color from Todd's shirts?

Do it again.

I did the same to my LL Bean shirt, and it just took a few times for it to reach the best color.

Best advice I can give is to be patient, and don't overdo it in each session if you want to keep the shirt's structural integrity and keep it from becoming splotchy.

Agreed. The LLBeans do the same thing. They rinse out green during the entire process. Then when you clean rinse them they look almost the same.


I got in the habit of tossing it in the dye remover whenever I was doing my original experiments. Anf after a few baths, I finally saw some difference.

The fact that you are seeeing pink rinse out of the shirt, mean that the remver is doing its job.
Keep at it. Everntually it'll lighten!

Agreed. The LLBeans do the same thing. They rinse out green during the entire process. Then when you clean rinse them they look almost the same.


I got in the habit of tossing it in the dye remover whenever I was doing my original experiments. Anf after a few baths, I finally saw some difference.

The fact that you are seeeing pink rinse out of the shirt, mean that the remver is doing its job.
Keep at it. Everntually it'll lighten!

How many baths did you put it through? It's on its third ( and 5th packet of color remover) and still very little change.[/quote]

Are you just using hot water or are you simmering it on the stove?
I've never had real luck just using hot water/wash method, the water doesn't get hot enough.

I usually (as seen in the tutorial) just get the water simmering and let it cook for about 30 minutes. I know this risks shrinking the shirt, but if the dye is that hard to get out, it may hold up.

Yeah I've just been using hot ( scalding to the touch) water in a bucket so perhaps I should try the pot simmer method.

Where's the before and after pics?

Heres' mine...
(Sorry, I don't have a before of my actual shirt, this is from the website.)

Ok, tried the stovetop method several times. Here's a shot of the shirt with jacket and bag on to provide cotnrast. I'm pretty sure it has been lightened somewhat regardless of how it looks in the picture (I think the camera's balance tends to make it a taner hue in comparison to the dark leather of the jacket). What do you guys think?

After placing my shirt in the washer with two packets of Rit Color remover, hot water, and adding a pot of boiling water to raise temperature, no color change. The washer was reset on agitation cycle for at least an hour, and no color change. I'm done!

Indiana Jake

Falco09,

Did you by vchance take before pics? Can anyone post some of Todds shirt for comparison.

I'd like to see your shirt in natural light. Indoors/mirror shots always affect how anything looks (mirrors especially because they have tinted backing.)

Dalexs wrote:Falco09,

Did you by vchance take before pics? Can anyone post some of Todds shirt for comparison.

I'd like to see your shirt in natural light. Indoors/mirror shots always affect how anything looks (mirrors especially because they have tinted backing.)

I did, however when comparing the two pics there isn't really a discernable difference. However to my naked eye it does appear lighter with less of yellowish hue.

It soundsl ike the Todds shirt is one tough nut to crack when it comes to the color.

Maybe someday I'll take a crack at one...

I just came across this screen cap and noticed the color similarity of the screen shirt to what my Todd's now looks like. Is Indy' s shirt really that tan in Raiders in some scenes or is it leaning toward a more yellow hue because of light reflecting off the idol?

I heard here that the new Todds shirts are less yellowish than the old ones: anyone can confirm this?

Falco09 wrote:I just came across this screen cap and noticed the color similarity of the screen shirt to what my Todd's now looks like. Is Indy' s shirt really that tan in Raiders in some scenes or is it leaning toward a more yellow hue because of light reflecting off the idol?

That's probably just the yelow lights they pointed at Harrison to make it look as if the Idol was glowing. Lighting does funny stuff to colours: that's why everyone is always asking for outdoor pics when colour is concerned.

Regards, Geert

I was finally able to get a very SA color! What I did was..............................................ordered an Adventurebilt shirt. Anyone wanna buy a L size Todd's shirt?

Indiana Strones wrote:I heard here that the new Todds shirts are less yellowish than the old ones: anyone can confirm this?

I know that my first Todd's shirt was yellowish, and after the return I got one that was NOT yellowish. So there does seem to be a slight color change.

Randy

Todd's shirt color is 100% Raiders SA, if you are going for the idol grab look.