Brands are going back to basics and using genuine indigo dyes for a colorful look that improves with age. As clothes have become less expensive and demand for denim has grown, synthetic blue dyes have almost overtaken the 6,000-year-old practice of using natural indigo. But designers are rediscovering the nuances of this plant-based pigment. It doesn’t just produce the deep, dark shade applied to selvedge jeans and pieces like Raleigh Denim Workshop’s striped chore coat: When aged properly, the living colorant can produce the palest shades of sky blue, seen here on Faherty’s striped T-shirt and Levi’s Made & Crafted’s soft, light Henley.
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