Custom Keds

A few years ago I decided to destroy a beautiful, classic, clean pair of white Keds by dabbing green, purple, and blue splotches all over them. I thought I was being artistic. Even as I was in the process of painting them, I didn't exactly like them. Random, multicolored, shapeless splotches are not exactly true to my heart or my sense of style. Wanting to pretend that I had created something special, I wore them anyway.

 

Luckily for me, something went wrong and the paint never set properly. Every time I wore them, the color faded more, until one rainy day when the purple and green washed almost completely out. (The paint I used was made from fiber reactive dye, water, urea, and soda ash. Once the soda ash is added, the paint needs to be applied quickly. Most likely I had let the paint sit around a little too long before using it. After painting, the fabric should be wrapped in plastic to keep it wet and left to sit for a day or so. I can't remember anymore how long I left it, but it might have also dried too quickly.)

 

They were a sorry mess. I stashed them under my bed and never wore them again until this summer when I had time to create for myself once more. What I did is not artistic, but it did turn out a pair of simple shoes that I actually like and can wear with all my summer clothes.

 

Before:

 

 

The laces, for some reason, never absorbed the dye at all, except for a small amount of pigment trapped in the plastic tips.

 

I tried to remove the remaining color by soaking them in a discharge solution (RIT color remover). The laces lost the last traces of dye, although it took a while.

 

 

As long as the shoes were in the discharge solution, they appeared to have lost most of their color. The once-blue areas were still a pale green, but I thought that would easily be covered by the next dye. When I took the shoes out, the pale green quickly intensified until it was as blue as it was before!

 

 

 

The new color I had chosen was navy blue, so, not knowing what else to do, I decided to go ahead and overdye the shoes, spots and all, hoping the navy would be dark enough to conceal the bright blue underneath.

 

 

While I was heating the water for the final dye bath over my butane camp stove, the drop cloth caught on fire! I don't know if it's just a dumb idea to have a butane stove sitting directly on top of a cotton sheet, or if the stove wore out and overheated, or if gas somehow leaked out onto the sheet. There flame followed the path of a little crack in the concrete below; maybe that had something to do with it? This is how strange superstitions start...

 

The water was hot enough to use by that point, so I finished without the stove. And haven't touched it since.

 

 

The shoes were dyed with liquid RIT navy blue, and they are gorgeous and dark. I can't see the old spots at all. The rubber soles soaked up a bit of dye as well, and now they're lavender. I wanted them to be their usual bright white, but I've decided I rather like the color now. Contrary to all the advice I've received, I plan to keep the laces white though!

 

After: These shoes got to travel with me to Paris!