What are pigment dyed t-shirts?
Pigment dyed t-shirts are shirts that have been colored with special ground pigment, therefore that is used to create a distressed or washed look. This method does not dye the material it only coats the outside, rather than fully penetrating like a dye would.
To help understand a pigment dye t-shirt, it’s important to understand what a pigment it. A pigment is a material that changes the color of reflected light or of transmitted light as a result of absorption. Pigments are used for coloring paint, ink, fabric, food and other products. Sometimes a color pigment can be altered by its saturation or lightness.
Before the Industrial Revolution, most of the pigments used were natural pigments of the earth and minerals, or of biological origin. Natural pigments of those days came from some very unusual sources, such as animal waste, botanical materials and insects. Blue and purple were often associated with royalty because they were very expensive pigment colors to get. As most people know, our modern world has developed synthetic pigments that are available in virtually every color you could possibly think of or want.
Pigment dyed t-shirts have become very popular because they give a shirt a unique distressed look instead of the typical solid color choice. Pigment dye is not actually a dye. Instead, pigment dye is more like a fabric paint that is used like a dye. Since pigment dye only coats the outside of the fabric, pigment dyed shirts age very quickly which give them a distressed vintage type look. Also, because pigment dye does not penetrate the entire garment like normal dyes do, it is very difficult to achieve a smooth solid color look. Most people using pigment dye wouldn’t want a solid color anyway, they would want a unique distressed or vintage look that nobody else has.
T-shirt pretreatment chemicals can be avoided in some cases, which make pigment dyed t-shirts environmentally friendly. This style of shirt has its own unique look and is known to be durable and comfortable.
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