Is bulk Rit dye more economical than other sources of acid dyes?

I'm interested in dying lacrosse heads. Most use RIT/dylon. Judging from your v. informative website it seems acid dyes are better. However I seem to be able to get RIT in bulk 1lb for $15 but in the UK even 50g of acid dye seems to cost $12 (even 30g of RIT is only $5).

Rit all-purpose dye contains a large amount of salt and detergents, which are very inexpensive, but only a fairly small amount of dye, so it is much less economical than it at first appears. 

One small box of Rit dye, containing 32 grams of powder, is enough to dye 1 pound of material to a pale to medium shade; this implies that it contains about 2 grams of direct dye plus about 4 grams of leveling acid dyes, plus about 26 grams of relatively inert ingredients. Calculating upward, it appears that a full pound of Rit all-purpose dye powder contains less than 60 grams of acid dye.  If a pound of Rit dye powder costs $15, that's not a better deal than buying 50 grams of a higher quality acid dye for $12. 

The acid dye in Rit dye is a type called, variously, leveling acid dye, acid levelling dye, or strong acid dye; it is not as long-lasting as other types of acid dye. In particular, the metal complex acid dyes should give you better results. The weak acid dyes and neutral acid dyes found in the Fibrecrafts acid dye line (which is sold by mail-order in the UK), and in the somewhat more expensive Jacquard acid dye line, should produce more predictable, reliable results than you can expect from Rit dyes. This is especially when dyeing black; lacrosse head dyers have complained many times about black Rit dye producing purple instead of black.

(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)

Follow this blog on twitter here.
Tweet