I want to dye the main body of a new Gossamer Gear Gorilla pack dark green. It's gray and 210 denier, urethane-coated, double wall ripstop nylon. There are other fabrics like silnylon on the pack, but I'm ignoring them and assuming they won't dye.

I'm planning to use Rit liquid dye. Will this work? Any gotchas or tips? Do I need to wash the pack a few times to remove any DWR coating?

I have dyed multiple packs including a gg Gorilla.

My attempt was to dye the Gorilla black. I used Rit dye (3 boxes)and followed the instructions provided. I used a clean garbage can to complete the project.

The pack turned out a very dark purple. I posted pictures on BPL that you can find with a little looking.

I did my ULA Circuit and plan to do my new Ohm. I used liquid Rit dye. Super hot water, 2 gallons boiling and one gallon simmering hot. 3 gallons and 1 full bottle of liquid dye. No need to wash first if pack is new or clean. Stir a lot to maximize coverage and let it go for the full half hour. I used a 5 gallon bucket wrapped with a canvas drop cloth to retain heat and a lid. I would stir every 3 minutes. Went from this to this
I gonna do the Ohm this afternoon.

Edited by kthompson on 04/01/2010 20:49:18 MDT.

Ken, I like that pack a LOT better black(ish).

Any bad experiences with shoulder straps or other points of contact bleeding out dye into hot, sweaty hiking shirts?

No transfer of dye. I should have included the fact that I put it in my front loader washing machine with detergent, warm water wash after dyeing. Drip dry.

"Ken, I like that pack a LOT better black(ish)."

+1. Never liked that green color...

There is some funky colored gear out there. We can fix a lot of that with dye. The Ohm is in the washer now. It's black. Never liked that blue of GG packs either, but silnylon is a problem. Even the compression cords and that yellow webbing on the Ohm took the dye as well.

Post some pics Ken once it's finished drying! What would've looked killer would be an all black Ohm with the yellow compression cords, but black(ish)is cool too.

Here you go

+1 on ULA pack looking better black.

I had great luck dying a ULA Amp. Liquid RIT + plus additional hot water by way of the stove. I dyed mine in a top loader by simply following the directions on the RIT bottle.

@ Ken - WOW! Looks great.

That does look nice Ken-reminds me of Pin-Stripes. I will give that a go on my Ark. Backpacking with some style!

-Jay

Thanks for the compliments. I am very happy with the way it turned out. The stock color was just too bright for me, and the yellow webbing on the hipbelt, well...it's gone. Are we going to see more dye jobs on the trail? Will manufacturers take note?

I love the change of color, black makes everything look better.

Edited by thomdarrah on 04/01/2010 22:11:07 MDT.

Is it possible to +1 myself? I am totally feeling the black. I always disliked the ULA Green. Those packs look great! Nice work.

Awesome Ken, I like it. Dark Green, Navy Blue and Pearl Gray are 3 other Rit colors I'd like to see used in a dye job. If this keeps up I bet we'll start seeing packs with painted buckles, permed compression straps and highlights :) I bet the Pearl Gray would look excellent on a pack however I think Rit only offers this color choice in powder form.

Eugene. You could use all three. Tie dye!

Has anyone tried this with a Granite Gear pack before? How did the dye take?

A member dyed a baby blue Vapor Trail with moderate success, I think some dye bled out of the cush vapor trail belt and backpad. Click the link below and the dyeing results are about 1/4 of the way down the thread. After a shakedown test he found the dye ran out of the padding onto his pants and shirt so it appears with the Granite Gear shoulder straps, hipbelts and backpanel that you need to THROROUGHLY wash and rinse rinse rinse.

Dyeing a Vapor Trail

Edited by Eugeneius on 04/02/2010 07:36:07 MDT.

Thanks! I might try this on a Virga to tone down the lime-green pieces.

Those dyed packs look great!

Hopefully not too far off topic but..I have a Marmot windshirt (Ion? 3.5oz). Nasty orange but I like the weight, features and performance.

Is the windshirt likely to take a dye? If so, how might it affect the dwr performance?

Facts, opinions and down-right BS are appreciated.

Paul

I dyed my ULA Ohm a few days ago too. Was a little afraid that I would screw it up and ruin my new pack, but it turned fantastic. Super simple. Would recommend it to anyone intelligent enough to follow the directions.

Ryan

Hey Ryan,

So what color did you dye your ULA Ohm pack? Please share and post some pics!

Great looking packs! And, thanks for the tips!

Okay, I have to say, the black IS handsome.... but I can't imagine having a black pack (any more than I would want a black car, and for the same reason)-- too hot! (It would melt my dark chocolate, for one thing). I have a Conduit, and the green is plenty dark as it is. That's one thing I miss about my light tan/bronze MS Ghost. The SW sun is HOT and that black sure knows how to suck it up.

Hiking with a black pack for a couple of years now, I have not noticed much difference if any with it being hotter than the green or blue. Pack the chocolate near the middle and not near the top. And it gets flipping hot here in CA.

Keeping up with the current trend of 'blacked out' ULA packs Ken started, I did a little modifying of my ohm....own this evening. The only variation I added was I removed the static compression line so the bright yellow cord was left untouched. Simply followed directions, did the stovetop method in a big pot I used for brewing beer, worked like a champ. Rinse, rinse, rinse. Start to finish took 1hr. and $3.25. Cheers.







*The blemish in the last photo is from my camera lens.

Edited by Eugeneius on 04/03/2010 21:54:15 MDT.

Nice job Eugene. At least we can tell ours apart with the compression cord. Very handy that the ULA embroidery doesn't take the dye. Looks like they came that way.

I've always liked Epic, but prefer stealth colors-has anyone tried to turn the "maize" color into a dark brown or green?
roosterk

Hi Randy

I doubt you can dye any EPIC-treated fabric. The EPIC treatment always goes on last. It covers every fibre with a thin film of silicone. Water-based dyes are not going to penetrate the silicone very much at all - that's the whole point of it.

Cheers

That makes sense. Thanks for the insight.
roosterk

+1 on black packs!

here is a thread I did awhile back:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=19825

I got a lot of PM's about color transfer. A year later, through various climates, I have had no transfer of dye

ken, see ya up at lost coast!

Edited by tacedeous on 04/05/2010 00:46:36 MDT.

Anyone have any pics of their GG packs dyed? I have an old Miraposa and a new Murmmer and would love to see how they turned out.

If it's silnylon you are out of luck.

I just bought a Golite Jam2 on the forums here but I hate the blue. I have it in the wash right now with black Rit dye. I'll post pictures when complete. Here is the before.

I had to take it outside for better lighting. Some of thread didn't take the dye but everything else did. It looks even better in person!

Edited by Bender on 04/27/2010 14:36:53 MDT.

Bender,
Great job, even if it is not black. :)

The dyneema grid will not take the dye and remains white regardless of color or amount of dye used.

Thom in person the pack looks black with gray. The jet black zipper doesn't really stand out as much as pictured. I was not expecting the dyneema fibers to take the dye at all. I have the weight of the pack down to 18.2 oz with foam pad or 17 oz without. I saved a little weight by replacing the draw string. I also removed the hydration sleeve and trimmed a bunch of straps. I can still use a platypus in the Velcro pad pocket. I have no idea why a company with light in the name wouldn't do this stuff from the get go.

Does anyone have any thoughts about dyeing an Osprey Exos to get rid of that ugly orangish stuff?? I am wanting dark green, but could settle on black if that all that it would take. Course, coudnt run it thru the washer to rinse, so maybe in a garbage can outside.

Thanks
sandy

Took the leap and utilized a color other than black :-)

Although the conduit looks almost black at first glance, I set it next to my black montbell alpine light jacket and then the color difference is easily noticed.
The Gorilla in a sense now looks like a Gorilla - brown and black....
I'm happy with the way they they came out as there are no missed spots (there shouldn't be after soaking them in hot water dye for 2-3 hours each with an occasional stir)....if they didn't come out well I figured to redye black as a escape/safety route.



Cheers

What next? Tie dye packs???

Kidding -- Christopher -- very nice job you did!!!

Excellent stuff Chris, I was curious if you were gonna do the Dark Denim color, glad you did too! 2-3 hrs is a long time to soak, I thought my 40 minute soak felt like an eternity. I almost chose the brown for my Ohm, almost. Perhaps when my Burn arrives I'll give it the treatment and a perm to boot.

I'm curious to what your washer looks like after using the dye? Is there enough residue that can get on other clothes?

Eugene:
The color I used for the Conduit was Navy Blue vice Denim Blue...I thought it would look better darker (just my opinion). It was time consuming...well at least it didn't require much work/maintenance - just an occasional stir or flip.
Burn: for the moment I'm not going to dye my Burn until at least a color preference grabs me :-). I like the darker grayish/black of the Burn....but the teal on the Conduit and standard gray on the Gorilla needed to go.

David:
I soaked the packs in a 10 gallon plastic bin (about $4 at Wal-Mart) and then dumped the dye and rinsed repeatedly by hand until most excess dye appeared to be removed. Then transferred to the washer for a few rinse on gentle cycle, followed by a wash with detergent on gentle cycle, followed by a few more rinse cycles.....not a trace of dye left in the washer after doing two packs :-)....

Cheers,
Christopher

David I ran the washer with nothing in it but a cup of bleach when I was finished. This is what Rit suggests and it worked well for me. The 5 gallon bucket may be better if you are worried about the washer.

Thanks for the suggestion Ken-I did my MLD Ark in black-It looks really nice...Yankee Pin Stripes-backpacking with style & class!!!!

Wonder what (if anything) I should do with my beloved Mountainsmith Ghost?




EDIT: Photo lifted off the web.

Edited by ben2world on 04/29/2010 15:32:09 MDT.

Arghh......peer pressure!

I'm going to have to do my baby blue Jam2. I never liked the color, but it was too cheap to pass up.

Baby blue? Yeah, I would do it. :)

"Baby blue? Yeah, I would do it. :)"

That will be some sight in Yosemite...Ben and a baby blue pack :-)

I'm quite jealous of this upcoming Yosemite trip Mr. Tang and Mr. Graf are taking soon... baby blue Jam2 and all. Can we expect a trip report?

Where do you buy rit dye?

@ Jeffrey,

Go to your local fabric store for the largest variety of dye. I found and purchased my RIT brand dye at Joann Fabrics. Most Walmarts have a fabric and sewing section, you can find RIT dye there as well. It's readily available. I dyed a hydration pack with the powder to see how it performed in comparison to the liquid dye and I greatly preferred the results with the Liquid RIT dye. Just my experience though.

Ummm... what I meant up above is that if I had a baby blue color pack, then yes, I would definitely dye it something else!!

Thanks Eugene. It seems like it's hard to mess up using black. I'll deviate and try brown though.

Jeffrey,

I dyed my GG Gorilla Brown and am happy with it....I used the liquid RIT (purchased at Wal-Mart) and had very good results (no missed spots - very uniform color)

Well, maybe now I'll leave the pack baby blue.......too much conformity around here! ; )

"Well, maybe now I'll leave the pack baby blue.......too much conformity around here!"

Yup. How about a matching pair of Crocs?

Edited by ben2world on 05/01/2010 10:51:33 MDT.

David. Think tie dye!

Watch out Ken.......or you'll get a package on your door step with a note requesting a complimentary backpack dye job!

I'll do it if you want. My choice of color!? I'm thinking pink!

That will go great with my crocs!

Bender,

I know what you mean about a company with the word lite in their name. I recently bought the newest Jam, and it was the heaviest yet at 31 oz! My Osprey Exos is only 3 oz heavier (after mods) and Waaaaaaaaay more comfortable. What is GoLite thinking? The original Jam was only something like 20 oz and has steadily gotten heavier. Of course it doesn't help that the naming went Jam, Jam2 then Jam again, what happended to Jam3 or jam cubed or something.

Hey Guys, excellent job on the packs!! I was going to dye a pack a while back and did some research online. Apparently a woman did a lot of experiments with rit dye, combining them to formulate new shades. I figured this would be helpful to someone, so heres a link to her blog and her dye recipes

http://paintedthreadsprojects.blogspot.com/2008/12/mixing-rit-dye.html

Tie dye would be soooo coooooolll!

Any ideas?

Are you guys using the Rit Color Remover before you dye ?

No on using the remover. Would use it if I got something dyed by mistake,sock or something else missed in the washer.

Konrad, Thanks

That link on making your own colors is awesome!

Cool! no problem, I'm glad I could help. Now the more important question...what color will you dye your next pack? Will it be Olive Drab....or perhaps Eggplant :D

I will be dying some MH Mesa Convertible pants "green" so I an wear them as Scout Pants, Much nicer than what the BSA offers.

Can you dye cuben? Will the fibers accept the RIT?

couch

any examples out there....these seemed to be exclusively dyneema blends.

We use to dye white delrin parts with a combination of boiling water and finger nail polish remover and RIT dye.The results would be a subdued color only on the surface.

Delrin is not suppose to take to dyeing like dyneema grid in less the colors is mixed in when moulding.

The finger nail polish would soften surface of the delrin and would allow the polymer to take the dye but when dropped or it hit the ground it could scrape off the color and you would see white delrin .

I would only try this on a scrap of dyneema grid fabric to see how it works in to see what the side effects from the finger nail polish
remover are to the nylon and urethane coating. Then when it drys see if it scrape off or did it dye the full penetrate dyneema fiber .

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=37448

I covered the woven/dyneema spectra in detail here., although Dan McHale commented on another thread to indicate that "dying was a loose term" and implied that it was actually a paint or coating.

Only two methods I'm aware of are some type of polymerization for the 100% woven dyneema/spectra, or acid etched/treated solid UHMWPE.

Cuben you'd be attempting to pigmenting the Mylar laminate on the outside of the spectra. Spray paint might work ;P

As a weekend project I decided to dye my granite gear vapor Ki.

Here is a stock image of the pack as delivered to me:



Because the purple color was wayyy too masculine for me, I decided to tone it down some with 3 bottles of Rit Dye.
Using the same method as described in this thread, I was able to achieve the following result after 2 hours of toiling over a hot black water filled caldron:


Why the Vapor Ki women's version you ask? Because the one thing I never liked about the Men's VT was the non-existence of any storage pockets. The Vapor Ki solves this by adding 2 zip pockets on both sides, above the side stretch pockets. I was able to confirm with GrG that their harness and back lengths are the same for both female and male packs; so once I get a male hipbelt on this pack, the pack will be strong enough for a man, but made for a ...man?


After reading about Tom's mishap with his VT leaking dye from the soft cushion padding, I made it a point to make sure all the loose dye was out of my pack. That equated to me using 9 bathtubs full of water (a couple of those had laundry detergent in them too), and the repeated stomping of the harness and backpanel as if I were opening up my own winery in my bathroom. Crossing my fingers!

Edited by Konrad1013 on 11/20/2010 14:36:43 MST.

Don't you mean VADER Ki? :)

The blackout treatment looks great Konrad!

Major improvement Konrad!

Ready for the stealth recon mission. Sneaking up on Moose.

Vader Ki...i like that--almost as much as I enjoy moose tipping in the winter. This combined with my RealTree Camo should make for a successful season.

I picked up a a older light blue Golite Pinnacle from Nomad Ventures pretty cheap on clearance.
I have a few questions for the you that dyed your pack it been trough a Fall and part of winter how's the dye job holding up? Did it effect the DWR finish? did it bleed trough in the rain or snow?

I want to dye mine coyote brown I noticed most of you have dyed yours black. Did any of you dye your packs lighter colors and have the color of the light blue pack cloth effect the color of the dye job and come out in a unexpected color? TIA for answering the questions.
Terry

Terry,

Nylon dyes very easily, so dyeing your light blue to a dark brown should be easy. I think your results will be positive... not a vomitous bile color when done :). My ULA Ohm was a 'lightish' green, which was then dyed black, it hasn't bled through onto any clothing from rain or sweat as far as I can tell. My MLD Burn pack which was originally a gray dyneema color is now a deep navy blue, haven't used this pack since summer before it was dyed so I cannot tell how the color will hold up but I'm not worried. I didn't notice any difference to the DWR properties or hand of the fabric after dyeing both packs. The biggest thing you have to do is rinse until your sick of rinsing, after 30 minutes of rinsing you'll think you removed all spent dye from the pack... only to then rinse again and find the water tinted. I added a mild detergent to my rinse water which seemed to help remove more spent dye than water alone, also helped reveal how much unused dye was floating around in the pack materials, particularly the shoulder straps and hipbelt. As far as knowing how two different colors will look when combined, I'd recommend finding a swatch of dyneema and testing it out first before dyeing your Pinnacle, or you can do what I did and just hope for the best. Worst case scenario you just dye it a darker color if you don't like it.

Tips:

- Use the liquid RIT in a bottle (easy and good results)

- Presoak your pack in hot water so it's saturated from the start and takes the dye evenly once you place it in the dye.

- Hotter the dye water the deeper the color results. (medium heat stirring constantly, don't boil it or go above 180F as it might do some funky stuff to the materials)

- Longer immersion times result in deeper/darker colors. (45min- 1hr.)

Eugene,
Thanks for the dyeing tips and durability of the dye report. The only experiences I have dyeing was with white and clear polycarbonate yoyo's. Also tinting spectacle lens at my work at Pearle vision. Both Dye jobs did fade after while..

anyone see a problem going red to black? would prefer it not come out purple :)

Mike,

Do it!

The red will completely black out with no bleeding through of color whatsoever. I promise!

For what it's worth, the pack looks pretty cherry the way it currently is.

Eugene- thanks. Don't have one (yet), not a super big fan of red, but maybe it will grow on me. If not, good to know I can go black

Mike

So has anyone used their died packs A LOT? Still wondering if they bleed in heavy downpours or weeks of sweating...

Love the look though!

That's what hearty thru-hiker dudes like you are for Jack, to provide the expedited feedback of longterm use on gear for guys like me. I'm a husband and father of 2 kiddos, it'll be one calendar year before my dyed Ohm sees 6 weeks of heavy downpours and weeks of my sweat. 6 weeks isn't 'A LOT' when in the company of guys like you so I'm curious to know what a home dyed pack will look like after your next thru.

For what it's worth, I honestly think you'll know fairly soon, not later, if the dye is going to bleed out onto your back from sweat and downpours. In my case, since last April, I haven't had any issue that I can speak of with staining on my clothing after sweaty hiking under a desert sun.

Anyone try any other colors? I am thinking my Osprey Exos would look nice in Coyote brown. Just curious if anyone thinks it is too much to ask the dye to cover the light gray and orange with a golden tan color.

I'm gonna try dying my Ohm blue. I'm hoping the majority of the pack stays black and just the green takes a blue (probably blue-green) color. If all else fails, I'll just black it out. Any insight guys?


I'll be sure to post pics of my endeavor.

@Lonney: I'm also meditating over a new color for my Exos and Talon. They're both gettin' kinda faded. I'm thinking black or blue or green for the Talon, and due to the Orange screen printing on the Exos, I just can't decide.

some pics from my dyeing process:





I used a bottle of liquid navy blue rit dye in my recyclable bin. Temperature taken immediately after adding pack to water 163 degrees Fahrenheit.

See full album at:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=626088&id=534530088&l=d2e384ff0f


I'll be sure to give you a report after my PCT thru-hike this year. Pack kinda smells like dye right now. We'll see how it fairs in the rain this weekend.

Has anyone tried dyeing Condura?

I have a light colored travel pack (checked tan/sage green camo) that I marked my initials on in permanent ink (more worried about theft in southern Russia/central Asia than resale value); like to repurpose it as an office pack, so maybe a dark grey. Heard there was issues with black.

ADD: How about EPIC? Have a windshirt which is kind of purplish, would like a bluish grey.

Edited by hknewman on 03/09/2011 05:41:34 MST.

Codura should be no problem. Polyester would be an issue. That is why the ULA logo did not take the dye.

After I dyed my pack and rinsed well in ice cold water. I threw it in the washer and gave it 2 cycles with just a tiny amount of liquid detergent. No bleeding or fading.

Have not tried epic.

Thanks I will try this in a little over a week and see how it goes

Has anyone tried dying a ula circuit red from the stock green color

bump for awesomeness