Our Process

At Juni + G, we believe in making clothes in a sustainable and ethical way and that clothes should be made to last, rather than worn a few times and discarded. We only use all natural dyes derived from various plants, and all our fabric is 100% organic, making it safe for your little one and the planet. Everything is hand-dyed and sewn by us, making it a truly one of a kind piece.

Each color listed is a combination of various plants, and the ones we are currently using are madder, myrobalan, quebracho, and cutch.

• Madder is one of the oldest known dyes and comes from the madder plant, making beautiful shades of red and pink. It’s been used all over the world and was even traced back to ancient Egyptian mummies. It’s the main dye we use in our ‘Berry’ and ‘Peach’ shades, and we use it to overdye yellow fabric for our ‘Golden’ color.
• Myrobalan, which helps produce our ‘Golden’ and ‘Butter’ shades, comes from the Terminalia chebula plant and is mostly found throughout India on the foothills of the Himalayas.
• Quebracho dye, which produces our ‘Sand’ shade, comes from quebracho trees typically found in South America.
• Cutch produces ‘Clay’ and ‘Nutmeg’ is derived from the Acacia catechu tree, and it is commonly found in India, Burma, Indonesia, and Peru.

The process of dyeing

Before we begin dyeing, we have to prep the fabric. First, it must be scoured with soap and soda ash in boiling water for an hour. Then after it is rinsed, the fabric goes through the mordanting process. These steps are crucial in ensuring the dye successfully bonds to the fabric and the color is long lasting. When dyeing with madder, we first put the fabric in a tannin bath, using gallnut powder, which come from oak trees. After boiling and stirring it for an hour, we turn off the heat and let the fiber sit in the vat overnight. (For the other dyes we use, we get to skip that step since they contain tannin.) Next, we rinse the fabric and immerse it in the second mordant bath, which contains alum acetate. Same as the tannin bath, we boil it for an hour and then let it sit overnight. After being rinsed and dried, the fabric is finally ready to be dyed!

For dyeing, we start by measuring out the exact amount of dye we are going to use, which is based on the varying WOF (weight of fabric) requirements of each dye. There are wide variances in what WOF you can use, and it all depends on what shade you want to achieve. Some dyes, like madder, need close to a 100% WOF to get the darker shades like ‘Berry’, but only 30-50% for ‘Peach’. Finding the perfect shade is such a mix of art and science in this regard. We also like to add special tones to each shade by rinsing the fabric in soda ash or iron.

Natural dyeing is one of the most beautiful and satisfying things to do in that you truly get to see nature’s beauty, but it is also difficult to create “perfect” pieces every time. Even if you use the same WOF of dye and leave the fiber in the water for the same amount of time, it can be hard to emulate the same exact shade you had before. Exact temperature, PH levels and other factors play into it. Another difficult part of the process is ensuring there are no splotches on the fabric. The bigger the piece, the more difficult this is. It requires me to be standing over the stove constantly stirring for the entire time to ensure the dye does not settle in one area of the fabric. As demanding as the process can be, there is no greater feeling than when I pull that linen blanket out of the pot and see that it’s dyed evenly and in a beautiful earthy tone that only nature can create!

Currently, we have 8 colors available, but we are always experimenting with different dyes to create new colors. We will be adding more each season. If you have a favorite color or one that you want to see us carry, let us know at hello@juniandg.com!