If you’re a regular attendee of fiber shows, you might have noticed that our bags run on the higher end, especially compared with those made from commercially-printed fabrics. Today, we thought we’d take you behind the scenes to shed a little light on why that is.
About four years ago, we decided to reduce our use of commercially-dyed and printed fabrics. Chiefly, we had released that we were tired of seeing the same fabrics across multiple booths (including ours!) and wanted to commit to building a more “one-of-a-kind” brand. As such, most of the fabric we use is linen that we have dyed ourselves using a natural process in which plants, invertebrates, and minerals are the coloring agents. Linen is (technically!) vegetable-derived, crafted from the cellulose fibers that grow inside of the stalks of the flax plant. It requires less water to grow than cotton and every part of the plant is useable. Our linen is grown and processed in Eastern Europe and is OEKO-Tex certified, meaning that the linen has been tested for over 100 harmful toxins and chemicals. When selecting commercially-printed fabric to use as contrast in our bags, this certification is also a consideration.
On the surface, dyeing with natural dyes and synthetic dyes is rather similar: prepare the fabric, put the fabric in a pot filled with water and dye, heat it, let it simmer and then let it cool before washing off any excess dye material and hanging the fabric to dry.
The difference is in the detail and the impact upon environment.
Synthetic dyes are ready to use right out of the package and don’t require any additional pre-processing work.
By contrast, pre-processing of natural dyes is a source of endless debate and variation. Typically, we usually need to heat the dyestuff in advance in order to first create a saturated dye bath. Depending upon the dye material used, the amount of time needed to extract the dye can vary from a few hours to almost a week.
Natural dyes also require a mordant and tannin to ensure sufficient colorfastness. A mordant is used to set dyes on fabrics. Tannins are used to assist the mordanting of cellulose fabrics, which tend to take dye less readily than their protein-based counterparts like wool or silk.
Synthetic dyes generally require a short amount of heating time to bond to the fabric. With natural dyes, this process can take considerably longer, as after heating the dye bath, the fabric must then sit in the bath to cool off. Oftentimes, we allow the fabric to remain in the bath overnight to allow for more of the color to be absorbed.
Synthetic dyes create a strong bond with the fabric and leave little excess dye in the bath; washing the fabric after the dye process and hanging it up to dry is therefore a quick process. By contrast, natural dyes generally leave quite a bit of color in the dye bath and the excess dye is rinsed out during the washing process. Naturally-dyed material needs to be rinsed until the water runs clear. We then let our fabric dry and then repeat again in about a week. A fast process natural dyeing is not!
Due to the labor involved in raising and harvesting natural dyestuff, the cost of natural dye materials is significantly more expensive than reactive procyon dye. One pound of Indian madder, for example, is $21.95, while a pound of red fiber reactive procyon dye is about $8.30. In order to obtain the most vibrant color, we dye at 100% weight of fiber; this means that for each gram of fabric, we use one gram of dyestuff. Our 180 gram expandable totes therefore require 180 grams of dye material. Each of our expandable totes has a weight of about 180 grams or about .4 lbs, meaning that each takes about $8.78 to dye. With the added cost of the tannin and mordant, the total comes to approximately $10 per bag.
Reactive procyon dyeing does not require the same amount of dyestuff to produce lasting color. According to Dharma Trading, in order to dye one pound of fabric with Pagoda Red, we would need 0.64 ounces of dyestuff. For our approximately 0.4lb bag, we would need about 0.26 ounces of dyestuff. If we used the reactive procyon dye, it would cost about $2.16 to dye the same bag.
Over 90% of the interfacing we use is traditionally-made buckram, with only our yarn boxes and bento boxes favoring commercial interfacings — though we are looking to reduce that number even further by instead quilting the boxes for strength and stability! This will give us the same control over the structure, but without the need to use commercial interfacing.
The waxed canvas we use in our totes comes from Halley Stevensons in Scotland. Halley Stevensons has over 150 years of experience in producing beautiful, durably, and long-lasting waxed canvas. Halley Stevensons’ process results in wax that can adjust to ambient temperature to become softer and more breathable in warmer weather, or stiffer and more windproof in the cold. The material can be maintained with additional coats of wax, helping to keep it soft, supple and weather-resistant.
Even more importantly, Halley Stevensons waxed canvas carries a Bluesign, which certifies that the products used are harmless to the human environment. All of this, however, means that the cost can be almost double that of other commercially produced waxed canvas.
Each of our linen bags is hand embroidered or hand appliquéd. The embellishments use vintage buttons, lace, and wool, not synthetic felt. Each hand-embroidered bag is unique and uses traditional handwork stitches and variations on historical needlework patterns. While we love this process, it is one of the most time-consuming outside of dyeing as a single bag can take at least five hours to complete.
Because our price tends to run higher than average, we are committed to creating bags that are of the highest versatility and quality, allowing you to buy less by investing once.