Name: Mariska de Bruin
Message: Dear Paula,
Nice (and comprehensive!) website you've got. I've been searching around a little, because I'm considering to dye my jeans. They've got those white whiskers and fadings on them, which I want to make more subtle. I was wondering if you've got any experience with "Dylon jeans art"? 

Because I want to try to keep the blue&white effect normal jeans have, instead of the solid color you get if you dye the whole jeans (e.g. in the washing machine). I tried to get some English info about "Dylon jeans art", but the only I could find was Dutch or French. In case you happen to understand either one of them, please check: one or two.

The English translation of the info I found, is:

Dylon jeans art: It's a way to give your jeans a personal look. A simple way to give them a "stone washed" look. With this handy kit you can also paint an image onto your jeans (with the included brush). Suitable for all washable denims.

Do you know Dylon jeans art?
With Dylon Jeans art you can give a personal style to your denim.
- Tie Die
- Painted effect
- Bleached effect
- Marble effect
- Stripes effect
- Stonewashed effect
- Dirty denim effect

I don't know if such a product is available in the USA, maybe under another name. But in case you've tried it, please let me know what results it gave!


You might want to try dyeing your jeans, or discharging them, or both. There is one insurmountable problem with dyeing cotton denim. The blue/white effect of denim fabric is produced by twill weaving undyed white threads in one direction (the weft) with dyed indigo blue threads in the other direction. You can get this effect only by dyeing the thread before weaving. If you dye the fabric after it is woven, you will get more of a solid color, which will not look like new denim. It will look more like a solid color cotton twill. If you overdye your jeans lightly with any dye, all of the lighter patches, both the white threads and the white whiskers and fading, will become more subtle. Blue denim overdyed with a completely different color, such as black, purple, or brown, can produce a very nice effect, or for the most subtle effect, you could choose blue dye. I recommend a fiber reactive dye for this purpose, such as Procion MX dye or Dylon Washing Machine Dye.

Discharging, that is, removing dye from, indigo-dyed denim is interesting, because it requires a different chemistry than discharging other dyes. Indigo is a vat dye, and the same chemical reduction processes that will remove many other dyes will only temporarily change the color of indigo to yellow. This means that you must avoid the common fabric discharges that are based on sulfur. You cannot use sodium hydrosulfite, which is also known as sodium dithionite, Rit Color Remover, Carbona Color Run Remover, or (most likely) Dylon Fabric Colour Stripper. These are all excellent choices for discharging other fabrics, but do not use them on indigo-dyed denim.

Chlorine bleach, which is the common household cleanser that contains 5% or so of sodium hypochlorite (the chemical abbreviation of NaClO is the same in any language), can work very well on denim. Of course, you must be careful not to get this chemical on your skin, or to breath a lot of fumes from it, and be careful to never mix it with ammonia (NH4) or any acidic substance at all, because of the extremely hazardous fumes which will result. You can apply it in a washing machine load, or you can apply it directly for specific effects. If you are going to apply hypochlorite bleach directly to your denim jeans, I strongly recommend that you work outside, to minimize breathing the fumes, and wear gloves as well as clothing that you do not mind getting bleach spots on. You can dilute the bleach with water, perhaps 1:10, and apply it with a sprayer or by painting it on. If you use a sprayer, wear a good gas respirator to avoid breathing in any of the chlorine bleach mist. Be sure to have a full tub of water ready to rinse your jeans in immediately as soon as you see that their color has lightened as much as you like.

If you would like your jeans to get worn-looking quickly, then you will not mind the damage that the chlorine can do to the fabric. If you choose to use chlorine bleach to discharge items that you do not want to be further degraded, such as art projects, then you should neutralize the bleach after you have rinsed the garment, as otherwise some bleach, or some breakdown products caused by the bleach, may continue to damage the fabric. Some older books recommend the use of vinegar to neutralize the chlorine bleach. This is a very bad idea, because acids plus chlorine bleach produce considerably more damaging chemicals, such as chlorine gas. There are several chemicals that may be safely used to neutralize chlorine bleach in fabric, after it has been rinsed. These include the 3% hydrogen peroxide that is sold as an antiseptic; sodium thiosulfate, which you may be able to find in photography supply stores; and sodium bisulfite, or potassium bisulfite, or metabisulfite, which are used in the food industry and which may often be purchased at wine brewing supply shops. In the US, we find that sodium metabisulfite, which is sold as Anti-Chlor, is by far the most economical choice for neutralizing chlorine bleach on fabric.

Dylon Designer Denim appears to be another name for the same product you found as Dylon Jeans Art. Look at the brochure for Dylon Designer Denim, which is a PDF document. I have not tried this product myself, but I would encourage you to try it, if the pictures they supply look like what you want. I suspect that it probably contains the chemical sodium dichloroisocyanurate, which used to be available as Rit Fast Fade for Jeans. Sodium dichloroisocyanurate, like chlorine bleach, will lighten the color of indigo, the dye traditionally used to dye blue denim. The cost of chlorine bleach is lower, but the Dylon product might be gentler to the fabric and possibly less toxic for you, during use. This chemical must be a much safer choice than potassium permanganate, which is used industrially to make the "whiskers" and other bleached spots on jeans. Be sure to check the instructions for any health precautions that you should take; if you don't see any, you should still be careful to work with good ventilation, and wear good plastic gloves, as with all household chemicals.

There are more discussions of different chemicals used for discharging fabric, as well as different chemicals used for neutralizing chlorine bleach, on the Dye Forum at the following link:
Discharge Dyeing on the Dye Forum
Perhaps you could join the Dye Forum and post pictures of your results!


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