Name: Dean
Message: Hi what an excellent web site. It would be great if you could help me. Im trying to find out how to make a new black t-shirt look really old by fading the colour. I was wondering if there is an easy way to do this so I can do loads of t-shirts at a time. I have tryed putting them in normal household bleach which is watered down but it just makes the black turn brown. Please could you help me. Thanks so much.

The problem with discharging black dye is that it is quite unpredictable what color a given batch of black fabric will produce. Some will discharge to white (and make a nice neutral grey if you stop the process partway through), others will discharge to brown or another color. And then, once you find a source of shirts that discharge exactly the way you like, the manufacturer overseas may, without a word of warning, change the type of dye used, so that all at once you get a very different color than before.

Different discharge agents - most usually chlorine bleach and sodium hydrosulfite (the latter sold as Rit brand Color Remover) - may give different results, but the identity of the original dye, which is impossible to determine, is the most important factor by far. Sometimes Rit brand Color Remover will give better results than chlorine bleach, but often it will not. It is worth a test.

The best thing for you to do would be to try to find a reliable source of dischargeable black t-shirts. Dharma Trading Company sells dischargeable black t-shirts which reliably discharge to white, and should make fine greys for your project. Other black garments sold by Dharma generally discharge only to brown. It all depends on the dye that was used.