First, thank you for your very informative website.  I direct my students to it all the time.

Next - I have been using direct dyes from ProChemical.  They are no longer carrying direct dyes.  I dye silk-linen with the direct and acid dyes to produce a fabric that has both colors in it.  Like the ones attached.

I contacted ProChemical (I taught there last year) to see if they would let me know their supplier so I could contact them directly, but since they purchase other items from them they would not reveal their source.  (I purchase my acids from Keystone Aniline.) I have been using prodirect and all my formulas use those dyes.  I am close to running out and would appreciate some help.

Do you know which chemical supplier they have been using--or do you know another supplier that I could order from by the color index #?  I always order at least a pound at a time.

Hi Doshi,

I'm surprised to learn that ProChem is no longer selling direct dyes. I'm glad to find out about that.

There is a table of the Colour Index numbers of ProChem's Diazol Direct dyes on my direct dyes page:

Lemon Yellow C150	Direct Yellow 50
Brilliant Pink C309	Direct Red 9
Scarlet C323	Direct Red 23
Basic Red C380	Direct Red 80
Greenish Blue C482	Direct Blue 98
Brilliant Blue C488	Direct Blue 293
Neutral Brown C516	Direct Brown 116
Jet Black C622	Direct Black 22
Blue Black C680	Direct Black 80 (200%)

You can use this list to get the same dyes you are used to using from another source, though the dyes might be at a different concentration. (If they also sold color mixtures of direct dyes, you will have to work the blends out for yourself.) If you contact Keystone Aniline with your list of direct dyes by Colour Index number, they should be able to help you with most or all of them. Another good source to try is Aljo Mfg., in New York, which sells direct dyes as their "Cotton & Rayon Dyes". You might also consider Standard Dyes, in North Carolina. For links and contact information for Aljo Mfg. and Standard Dyes, see Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World.

Standard Dyes' web site indicates that they have all of these direct dyes in stock, at various specified concentrations. When you order from Standard Dyes, you must always repeat that you are interested in buying these colors only, by their Colour Index names, and that you will not accept any similar-hued mixtures of other colors. Otherwise, they may substitute a mixture for a dye they are running low on. Be clear to them that you cannot accept any mixtures.

Some dyes are available under a multitude of common names, but to you the common name is irrelevant; the Colour Index name is all that is important. For example, all of these dyes are Colour Index Direct Black 22 at Standard Dyes: PERMALITE BLACK B SUPRA SPEC, PERMALITE BLACK K-Y HI CONC, PERMALITE BLACK FR, PERMALITE GREY 2BL CONC., PERMALITE BLACK FG-P 250%, PERMALITE BLACK SL, and PERMALITE BLACK AD. The common names they use appear from my angle to be almost completely random.

Some dyes will be labeled as 75% strength, or 200% strength. These strengths are by weight, not by volume. A dye labeled as 200% has twice as much dye per gram of dye powder as one labeled 100%. Your Diazol Direct dyes were most likely all 100%, except for Blue Black, which was 200%, so you will want to alter the weight of the dye you measure out accordingly. It is necessary to measure dyes by weight, rather than volume, for reproducibility, though it's less convenient than measuring by the spoonful.

Many dye manufacturers will not sell you quantities as small as one pound per color. Dystar, for example, requires that you buy a minimum of five kilograms (eleven pounds) of each dye color. I have ordered from Standard in the past because their minimum order is one pound per color. However, you must watch out for substitutions.

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