Think the Earth

Folk singer, Iruka's white outfit gets a new look with the traditional black dyeing technique.

You've stained your favorite outfit, but you want to keep wearing it somehow. Why not dye it black and give your used clothing a second wind? World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Japan and "Kyoto Montsuki," a well-established kimono black dyeing company, have joined hands to launch the "PANDA BLACK-REWEAR PROJECT 2013" in October 2013 to encourage people to recycle their used clothing by dyeing it black.

At the Tokyo Designers' Week 2013 held (until November 4) at the Meiji JIngu Gaien in Tokyo, T-shirts, jeans, dresses, and bags that have been dyed black were on display. The dress worn by folk singer Iruka, as well as art director Gugi Akiyama's bag that used to be beige were also showcased showing the visitors the different textures. Mainly materials like cotton and linen may be dyed and recycled. But you can enjoy a wide variety of nuances, for example, with textile blends may sometimes turn out a little lighter in color, the stitching may remain white, and depending on the pattern of the textile the dye may turn out very interesting.

Anyone can use this system to dye clothes. All they have to do is send their clothes directly to "Kyoto Montsuki," and pay the dyeing fee according to the weight of the clothing. Then a part of the fee will be donated to WWF.

"PANDA BLACK" was named after WWF's Panda logo mark. Kyoto Montsuki established in 1915 uses high quality, spring fed waters of Kyoto Mibu. It has cultivated techniques to dye fabrics black while giving it incredible depth. This color is called "Shinkoku (deep black)." This new project takes advantages of such techniques to recycle used clothing.

Annually, 2.5 million tons of clothing are consumed in Japan, of which 2 million tons are thrown away within 6 months, so not much of it is recycled. A lot of Earth's resources are used to manufacture clothing. Mr. Toru Arakawa, the president of Kyoto Montsuki says, "You can give your favorite clothing a second wind by dyeing it black. Recycling even one piece of clothing will help protect our planet. I really hope that more people will come to know about our dyeing technique."

mail to:kyotomontsuki@kmontsuki.co.jp