Travis Gumbs: Months ago when I walked into a fabric store and bought a bottle of wine colored Writ dye, I had no idea what I was going to do with it. I simply bought it based solely on the fact that I liked the color and knew that someday the opportunity to use it will  present itself. The dye quickly found itself hidden beneath all the other non-necessities that took home in my room.

While cleaning my room a couple weeks ago, I came across the bottle of unused, forgotten dye and felt an urge to use it. I took my white Tretorn Nylites that were beaten to a pulp and ran for the bathroom before I could change my mind. I Filled a plastic tub with warm water, added a generous amount of salt and poured in the dye. Then submerged the sneakers and laces in the concoction and let it sit for about 20-30mins. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much promising results. Had I known what I know now I would have documented the whole thing, the transformation was nothing short of amazing. As you can see from the photos, the canvas turned a deep wine and the soles and accents morphed into a pinkish hue. It’s actually a great color-way. There’s no wonder why Tretorn fans I encounter think they missed the boat on these.

I wasn’t planning on doing a post on this. However, I’ve been getting countless questions about where I purchased the shoes. The most fascinating part is seeing people’s reactions when I reveal that I dyed them with a simple $4 bottle of liquid dye. So there you go. I know most of you have beat up canvas sneakers laying around. Get some dye and spice those badboys up. I’ll be doing this with a couple other things. I cant get enough. I’ll be sure to keep you guys posted.

Listen to

Listening to [Jackie Mittoo- Ghetto Organ]

Here’s a nice little instrumental dub track by Jackie Mittoo. He was a popular pianist and songwriter out of Jamaica who started his career during the 60s. This track has the perfect ambience of reggae in an urban city.

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