I love making tie-dye. I have gone to summer camp since I was twelve, and a very typical summer camp pastime is tie-dying. From an early age, I knew the correct process to prepare the shirts and eventually start dying. I was a master with all the designs, just hand me some rubber bands and I could do whatever pattern you wanted. Getting messy, splattering dye everywhere, it still is my favorite thing to do even as a 20-year-old. So as you can imagine, I couldn’t contain myself when I realized tie-dye was making a comeback.
It started out subtly, with stores introducing a few mass-produced tie-dye shirts. Very quickly, stores like Urban Outfitters and Forever 21 started selling more and more tie-dye patterns. Tie-dye has even made its way into high fashion joining collections for Prada, Michael Kors, and Stella McCartney. According to Vogue, tie-dye was named one of the “big trends of 2019”. The shopping app LiketoKnow.it released data showing searched for tie-dye increased 900% between May and June of this year. While designers are claiming a new era of tie-dye has begun, an era full of experimenting with other fabrics and high fashion, but many people continue to wear classic “Surfer” tie-dye shirts or make their own, a symbol for something completely beyond just a fashion statement.
Along with VSCO trends and the laidback culture of Generation Z, tie-dye means something more that started way before people could post about it. Tie-dye is typically associated with the 1960s and the hippie counterculture movement. During this politically charged time, tie-dye became a symbol for peace and love. This counterculture was a way to escape the social norms of more restrictive times, allowing children of the 1950s to express new freedoms and thoughts. Many people have already made parallels between the 1960s and our current political climate. There are a lot of similarities between Trump and Nixon, along with a lot of raised tension when facing the future of our split country in its safety and gun regulation, human rights, and medical care. The hippies of the 1960s were strongly against Nixon and his politics; while not quite hippies, the socially aware Millennials and Gen Zers are continuing the protest, actively speaking against Trump and his politics as well as organizing marches and increasing activism participation. R13 denim founder, Chris Leba, told Harper’s Bazaar in an interview that, “tie-dye can be viewed as a peaceful, but defiant protest against conservatives.”
Colorful and creative, tie-dye has brought a lot of color and light into a disagreeing world. A symbol for something new and harmonious, I believe we’ll be seeing even more tie-dye as the next step in our country’s history is made with the 2020 presidential election.