onto the next phase.

good morning my friends! how are you?

above are some photos of my hand dyed purusha pants. they are so fun and vibrant! did you know i still do all my dyeing in our kitchen sink? yep, once a week i dye up a whole batch of items for a week's worth of orders. i've been doing this for about 3 years. pretty crazy!

i used to not give my health and its connection to the dye process much thought. for about a year i didn't even wear a respirator when dyeing, ugh. now i do wear one and i try to take as many safety precautions as i can. i use procion dyes, which are the most low environmental impact dyes out there, but of course they still have their health and eco issues, like any other man made product. i've begun to witness the dyes effects in myself A LOT over the past couple months.

nowadays i almost always have a runny nose. i thought it was allergies from outside or something, or i was just getting sick when i was realllly stuffed up. all day long now i blow my nose and sniffle. but  finally, last night after finishing up dyeing a few pieces and having a sneezing attack, i put the pieces together. patrick and i talked and looked up procion dye allergies online, and now it's making sense why i feel so irritated in my nose all the time. i've become sensitized to the dyes i use and have developed an allergy to them. part of me is really sad about this, because so much of purusha's revenue comes from my hand dyed stuff. but another part of me is really almost happy about it, because i've been wanting to move beyond dyeing small batches in my kitchen sink. and i know it can't be good for my long term health to be working with dyes in a non-factory non-safety certified setting. like a lot of big changes in my life, i am just being forced to quit and move on to the next bigger and better thing. i know it will work out and bring on something cooler than before!

for now, i'm going to slowly begin removing the hand dyed items from my shop and start replacing them with new stuff that is similar that i don't dye. AND i'm still planning on doing a kickstarter so that i can produce some of the more popular hand dyed styles in some factories in LA! so fear not, peaceful peacock pants lovers, the hand dyed looks won't be gone for good, just until i can get them manufactured.

as i sit here typing this with a stuffed up head, i know this is the right decision. as hard as it is to have to discontinue something that was selling well, it's probably better to put my health above money. it's been a fun run, procion dyes, but it's time for the next phase.

{p.s. when i begin manufacturing some styles, what pants would you want to see continued?}