Fishermen Pants

You don’t have to look too far: The plants around us are gifts from nature to help us color our clothes.

Our fisherman's pants from Organic Hand woven cotton made in two villages

 * Pa Da Project - Museum of Cotton.

 * Wan Project - north of Thailand.

 Sources of natural dyes

1.Achiote tree (Bixa orellana): yellows and oranges
Indian red wood (Caesalpinia sappan): magentas and pinks
Tea (Camellia sinensis): yellows
Soga (Ceriops tagal): dark browns
Indian albizia (Albizzia lebbekoides): yellows and light browns
Jengkol (Archidendron jiringa): oranges
Sugar palm (Arenga pinnata): warm browns
Indigo (Indigofera arrecta): bright to dark blues
Mango (Mangifera indica): various shades of green
Yellow flame tree (Peltophorum pterocarpum): browns
Mahogany (Swietenia mahagoni): reddish browns

2. Ma klua (Thai ebony) fruits soaking. Ma klua has a very short season, but the fruits are so rich in tannin that they can be dumped into water and kept year-round, as in the photo. It dyes brown to grey to black, depending on the strength and method.

3. Two skeins dyed with Ma klua.

4. The roots simmering in the dyebath. They produce a very strong yellow color, but it apparently fades over time.