The DIY (dye-it-yourself) short is prepared for dye and ready for you to make it your own. You can tub dye them to match your skates or sneakers, tie-dye them to get a little funky, or plant dye them using foraged plants…the possibilities are endless! 💭
There is no one way to dye your Hammies but most methods involve these three steps:
Scour or pre-wash: Even though your Hammies are brand new, you want the fabric to be clean of oil, dust, and even fingerprints before dying because these can affect how the fabric absorbs dye. You can use a professional textile detergent but any old detergent will do.
Dye: There are many different types of dye and dying techniques. If you're dying for the first time or interested in an easy, inexpensive, and predictable type of dye, we recommend reactive dyes . If you're interested in going deeper, you can try natural/plant dye As for techniques, there is tub dye (for solid colors), tie-dye, ice dye, transfer dye, discharge, etc. Most methods require a fixer such as soda ash to fix the color and prevent it from washing out.
Wash: After you're done dying, it's very important to wash it out so that you don't accidentally dye the rest of your clothes! Most techniques involve rinsing with cool water until the water runs clear and then washing with hot water and detergent by itself (or at the least with very dark colors that won't be affected by the dye that you used). We suggest washing and drying on a hot cycle to shrink them to size.
It isn't difficult or expensive to dye your own Hammies and after you dye your first pair, odds are you will start dying everything in sight! 😸
The DIY shorts will fit about a half size too large before you dye them. See our notes about "sizing" below.
The Hammies short sizing is based on US pants sizing (size 28 means 28-inch waist), so if you wear a size 28 in jeans, then you're a size 28 in Hammies. If you don't know your waist size, measure the waist of your favorite jeans in inches and multiply that by 2 (14" across x 2 = 28"). Keep in mind that Hammies have a high rise and sit around your belly button, so if your favorite jeans are not high-rise, you may want to adjust for that. If you're in between sizes, we suggest sizing down.
