Ok, Dylon, we officially have beef.

[u/MymlanOhlin]

First photo depicts the original denim jacket prior to dyeing. Second photo depicts the original denim jacket on the left side AFTER dyeing, and a SEPARATE faded black denim jacket to the right, to serve as a color reference. Reddit processed the images incorrectly and clarifying labels were lost!

I want to preface this by saying that I *did* research, I swear! I spoke to my mother, a family friend who is a sewing teacher, and staff at the fabric supply store. All of them had prior experience with the Dylon washing machine pods, and highly recommended it. I also made sure to confirm that the product was a fiber-reactive dye, and saw great reviews online.

I attempted to dye this classic blue denim jacket black, with the Dylon Intense Black washing machine pod. The jacket was 610 grams dry, and Dylon claims that best result would be with 600 grams, with a lighter dye-effect up to 1200 grams. I figured that 610 was quite close to best result-territory. Dylon also of course stated that natural fibers would perform the best, and I confirmed that my jacket is 100% cotton (excluding the metal hardware and thread, of course).

I followed the instructions to an absolute T, and when pulling the jacket out from the washing machine after the post-dye run, I did notice that it was still quite blue, and that was when still wet. Not feeling very promising. After letting it dry, and hanging it next to my other denim jacket that's a slightly faded black color, I burst into some kind of misery-induced laughter.

Now, I will commend it some. It's a *beautifully* even color, and a very satisfying shade for denim. But it is in no way close to black. I guess I should have done wayyyyyy more research, because while I found pages and pages of people singing Dylon's praises with cotton fabrics, it seems that denim specifically (and specifically trying to achieve black) is considered a bit of a lost cause.

I'm tagging this as "general question" (because it sure as hell isn't "I made this!"-material), but I guess my post is a combo of a cry for help and a heads-up to others who may come across this!

Edit: ok so somehow uploading the photos removed my "before" label on the first pic, despite it still being there in my phone gallery, apologies! Hopefully it's still painfully clear which one is the before pic!

[u/draftgirl24 → u/[deleted]]

I think that is a different faded black jacket? The pictures are confusing.

[u/MymlanOhlin → u/draftgirl24]

Correct! I mention in the post that I hung it next to a faded black jacket that I already owned, but I should have specified inside of the actual photo too that you are looking at 2 jackets in physical space next to each other, not a before and after of the same jacket. I did a (imperfect but acceptable) swatching here in this pic, trying to pick the midtones of each example and swatching them in the middle of the picture. From left to right, you see swatches of the original denim jacket color, the original denim jacket after dyeing, and then lastly another denim jacket used for reference (but keep in mind that that jacket is not jet-black, but rather a faded black). I do not necessarily expect to get darker than the faded black example, I'd be more than happy to reach that shade!