I wear jeans only on weekends, therefore my pairs tend to last a while. However, the original indigo color is now quite faded to a shade of Carolina Blue. Call me old fashioned but I like the indigo look of classic Levi’s and Wrangler. Do supermarkets and pharmacies still sell the old RIT brand clothes dye? How can I easily restore the dark color of my jeans?
LW, Amazon is your “partner in crime”:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/s//ref=mw_dp_a_s?ie=UTF8&k=Rit+Dye
Oh man, LW. You are a brave soul. You might consider washing those dyed jeans by themselves for awhile…
How old are those jeans? I have a pair of bandolinos that are the darker blue…about 8 years old. They don’t fade.
You may find that being a new pair of jeans is a better idea than getting RIT dye. As noted…you will need to wash those jeans all alone…or only with black and other dark navy clothes…forever.
Remember when we would wash our jeans over and over and over again, to get them to fade?
Time to treat yourself to an upgrade pair and use the old pair for working around the yard.
You could also make a sweet pair of jorts for summer 
The dye will also cover the orange thread so it’s not going to look like new. But you might like the overdyed look. I think you should try it and if you don’t like it, then buy some new ones.
LW, a pair of classic Levi’s is $30 on sale. A jug of dye is $10 and countless headaches of making sure the dye does not transfer onto other stuff. Not much savings… I vote for a new pair!
^Me too! A new pair is in order. Maybe you wash them too much. A pair of jeans can be worn many times assuming you are not working outdoors in construction or something else to get them very dirty.
Do not dye. I think they will look ridiculous.
And why do you have to ask if they are still selling dye. Can’t you look for yourself when you are in a store? Is there something else going on here?
I don’t think they’ll look ridiculous but I think they’ll look different and probably not like you’re expecting them to look. If you liked the way they looked when they were new then you should probably buy new. Recent experience with dyeing suggests that you really need to use a lot of dye and leave it in for a very long time to get it anywhere near dark enough.
I have frequently re-dyed favorite jeans with Rit dye. I usually use 1/2 blue and 1/2 black to get a dark indigo color. After 3 or 4 separate washings, they are fine in my usual load of dark colors.
Contrary to what a previous poster said, the orange threads do not change color. The threads are polyester, which won’t accept a dye.
I’m with scubasue, have done it numerous times for years. Usually put salt in the rinse cycle which sets the color. After a few washes, the color doesnt leach.There is a denim blue rit dye but I prefer either navy or a mix of navy and black.
Great advice, Scubasue and Sistersunnie!!! Thanks.
And for your information, Morrismm, the last time I looked for RIT dye in the supermarket about a few years ago, there was none to be had. Haven’t seen that stuff in years.
Thanks for your suggestions too, Bunsen and Sax. I just had a color/stain accident with one of my favor pairs of summer shorts last week. The khaki shorts now have an dark orange splotch in a somewhat “indiscreet” location because I washed them with a cloth that leeched its bright orange color. ~X(
Totally agree…RIT is not easy to find. I think I got it at Joann Fabrics the last time I used it. It is not in most other stores.
Regularly find it in our area Walmarts…
The fiber content of the thread used to sew jeans varies by manufacturer and within manufacturer depending on the style requirements. Very high end jeans use only cotton thread and eschew polyester in the denim too. So your threads my or may not absorb the dye.
My son leaves a pen in his pocket… 