Well, there’s an old addage: Do the best with what you have.
Early on, I had purchased a Tru-Spec kahki uniform, new, but even as an XL it was a tad bit tight, atleast tighter than the Nomex is. So I bought a Nomex, dyed it to GB1 color (a shade I felt looked great), and through the Tru-Spec to the back of the closet.
Well, I got a wild hair up my ass to make a GB2 blue/black suit, and decided I’d test myself and dye the kahki Tru-Spec. Now, I used AZSpidey’s tutorial on how to dye a black TS to GB2, but for a khaki to blue, I didn’t find a post where it had been done. So I followed most of his recipe, removed the color with twice the color remover, and added twice the Nevy Blue and Black RIT bottled dyes than they recommended. After three dying cycles, I finally got a color I’m happy with.
Viola:
It’s not perfect, and I’ll probably get a Nomex and repeat the GB2 suit, but I like it. It’s a nice change!
My girlfriend took the picture, so the lighting (really) sucks (ass), but I’ll take some good ones tomorrow in the natural light. No comments about how dirty the underside of my couch is lol. But I’ll take comments on the suit.
Very well done Kyle, I would have never thought you could get from khaki to this. I like the way the stitching stands out in the picture too.
wait . . . . . . . . .THE F*%K?
Your suit has lap pockets and that little strap on the inner left thigh, that can’t be a Tru-Spec. Also there’s no storm flap, a characteristic of Rothco, but at the same time it has brass zippers which rule out the possibility of a Rothco suit, so what is it?
Oh and Nick, if you didnt do a gray suit, I’d call you crazy expecially now that you have a complete GB2 pack.
One thing I also noticed about Tru-Spec is that soaking the khaki in color remover does not do anything. I say this since the above instructions mention color remover. I put a prewashed suit in a small washer load of hot water and added two boxes of color remover and let it soak for a few hours. I restarted the washer, washed and dried the suit and compared it to a suit I still had in the plastic wrap. It did not change color at all. I will say though that I have gotten a khaki Tru-Spec to a very deep gray but as mentioned the stitching will stand out. So, if anyone does decide to dye a Tru-Spec suit, remember that the color remover will only help in the removal of any dye added after the suit was manufactured.
Thanks for the compliment! And as far as I was told, the guy who sold it to me said it was Tru-Spec. Now it’s a 65% ployester/35% cotton mix, which is what Tru-Spec’s are, and the color before hand was DEFINATELY not a Rothco color. Perhaps Tru-Spec changed their suits a bit? This would verify Whitey’s claim that his suit is, in fact, Tru-Spec, and not a Rothco.
Anyone have any info on whether the suits changed?
