When the pandemic first hit, Layla Guest imagined tie-dye as a fun project to do with her young daughter.
Her 4-year-old quickly lost interest. But Ms. Guest, 38, grew obsessed. In just a few months, the Los Angeles yoga teacher has dyed hundreds of items in her apartment, including a shower curtain, tote bags, towels, and everything white in her wardrobe.
“I can tie-dye from morning until night,” she said. “It was out of control. I definitely fell down the rabbit hole.”
Tie-dye, the counterculture emblem of the 1960s and 70s, has made a splashy comeback in 2020. Demand for dyes and do-it-yourself kits have skyrocketed as people stuck at home experiment with tie-dying everything in sight. Some are trying to make their own versions of the pricey tie-dye sweatsuits churned out by designers as a work-from-home uniform.
Dye companies are struggling to keep up, forcing industries like costume design to compete with amateur tie-dyers for limited supplies of dye. There are shortages of cheery colors such as petal pink and turquoise.
