Tea-Stained Denim Experiment (with large pictures)

[RedLetterDay]

So I had read a few things about tea-staining fabric and denim and, being the way I am, naturally had to try it out. To start, I had an old pair of 7FAM (Yeah yeah, bottom-line is after I had the leg tapered they were/are one of the best fitting pairs of jeans I've owned). I hadn't worn them in a while mainly because of the color, as you can see in the picture below it's fairly blue/faded and I have been wearing mostly darker denim since. Here is a picture of the original denim:

My goal was to give them an aged & antiqued look and also darken them as much as possible. So, not being able to find too much information on the subject, I decided to just buy some tea and try out what seemed like the best method in my mind. I used 40 packets of Assam tea (going by the assumption that this is one of the darkest kinds of tea). I'm not sure exactly how much water I used or what the ratio was, but I filled about a fairly large stock pot about half way. After boiling the water I threw the tea packets in and let is steep for about 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. After I was confident that the tea was mostly transferred to the water, I simply took a strainer and removed all of the tea packet. I reduced the heat to low and put the jeans in:

I was originally going to use a weight to keep the jeans at the bottom but I found that for the most part they stayed almost completely submerged, so I just took a few wooden spoons and placed them in spots where the jeans were slightly rising to keep them down. I waited approximately 5 hours, took the pot downstairs and hung the jeans to dry above a sink for around 30 minutes. After that I turned them inside-out and put them in the dryer on low for an hour or so. Here are the results:

Overall I'm pretty happy with the result, hard to be unhappy when I otherwise probably would not have worn the jeans anyways. I have some other denim I want to try this with and I figure there are a lot of small changes you can make, like type of tea or amount, for changes in color & effect. Edited in a comparison photo.

 

[globetrotter]

I'm glad I don't wear jeans.

 

[Lysol]

They don't look much different to me. I did see someone post pictures here doing something similar but with green tea instead. They gave the denim a cool greencast.

 

[Jekyll]

They look dirty.

 

[RedLetterDay]

Originally Posted by Jekyll

They look dirty.

That's kind of what I expected to happen. I still don't have any intention of wearing them out to dinner or out at night. I mainly used them before when I was doing work on the boat/docks or just screwing around outside. Was just curious to see what would happen.

 

[mulansauce]

It looks like they were stained with tea.

 

[DrFaustus]

I can tell a difference. They look all right for the very casual use as you mentioned.

 

[Bona Drag]

Not bad...sort of a (very) poor man's Dior dust wash effect.


Edit: Or maybe I mean orange overdye. I can't remember.

 

[RedLetterDay]

Originally Posted by Bona Drag

Not bad...sort of a (very) poor man's Dior dust wash effect.

Edit: Or maybe I mean orange overdye. I can't remember.

Haha, well like I said they're just beater jeans so it was an interesting experiment.

 

[robbie]

thanks for sharing

 

[sci-fi-o-hi-fi]

Holy ****...

As a tea nut, this idea screams brilliance. Do they smell like tea? I can't even imagine how good a pair would smell once boiled in a pot of Lapchang Souchong

 

[LookSharp]

They look like those worn-by-car-mechanic fake distressed jeans that were around for a couple of years in the mid nineties. Not a fan. If you have a pair of decent jeans but want them restored to something more fitting with your current denim darkness preferences, then just get some of this: http://www.dylon.co.uk/products/dyes...eans-blue.html

 

[Ludeykrus]

I like the effect in certain jeans. Then again, I turn wrenches most days.

I'm curious as to just how resistant the tea stain is to fading in the wash.

 

[RedLetterDay]

Originally Posted by sci-fi-o-hi-fi

Holy ****... As a tea nut, this idea screams brilliance. Do they smell like tea? I can't even imagine how good a pair would smell once boiled in a pot of Lapchang Souchong
They smelled of tea very slightly after I took them out of the dryer but after a couple hours of wearing, they really just smell like normal jeans now.

Originally Posted by Ludeykrus

I'm curious as to just how resistant the tea stain is to fading in the wash.
I didn't wash them but I'll throw them in today and see what happens. I read some things saying tea-stained fabrics are pretty permanent after being heat dried but some other things said they still fade a bit or even completely revert to normal if washed with detergent.

Originally Posted by LookSharp

They look those worn-by-car-mechanic fake distressed jeans that were around for a couple of years in the mid nineties. Not a fan. If you have a pair of decent jeans but want them restored to something more fitting with your current denim darkness preferences, then just get some of this: http://www.dylon.co.uk/products/dyes...eans-blue.html
Thanks for the link, will have to try that on an older pair also.

 

[samurai]

I've done this on occasion myself. Part of the fun of having jeans is experimenting with them, and you got a different looking patina. If they were mine I would wash out some of the tea stain, leaving just a bit, so it's not obvious.

If you're thinking of doing the same thing with coffee, save yourself the trouble. You get a kind of dead looking brown which I found un-attractive.

The good thing about these kind of experiments is that you can always wash them, maybe with a drop of bleach to get back to where they were.