DIY BLEACH FADE ON KEEPR TANKS

Cutting, dying, sewing and just an overall repurposing of clothing is something I’ve always been interested in. I had a few extra Keepr tanks so I decided to play around with bleach. The original idea for this came from Brooke over at The Junk Parlor. Her video covers the bleaching of flannels (and is much more in-depth) so feel free to head over there if you’re looking for more details. I bleached and dyed and few my own flannels as well and they turned out great.

The video below is super quick and simple but I’ll also post the instructions here.

First thing: get yourself some gloves and throw on some clothes you don’t mind messing up. Besides that,
all you’ll need is: Two plastic tubs, bleach, water, and your cotton garments.

I’d recommend doing this outside if you can. You might pass out from those bleach fumes if you try this in your bathroom.

Mix the bleach and water together in equal parts in one of your tubs. (I used equal parts bleach and water - slightly more water.)

Fill your other tub with clean water. If you have access to a hose that you can turn on to rinse the garments, even better.

Dunk the garment into the bleach mixture where you want the color transition to start. Let it sit for a minute or so. Remember to be careful not to get bleach on your hands! Any residual bleach on your hands will transfer to the garment.

Remove from bleach and wring out. Dunk hands first, followed by garment, into your fresh tub of water. Wring it out again and line dry. Experiment with dunking the top or bottom of the garment and also play around with the time left in the bleach.

You won’t really have a clear idea of the results until after the garments are dry.

Overall, I was really happy with how they turned out. And even if they didn’t turn out great, it was a fun experiment. Give it a shot!

Bali, a good place to start

I’ve been meaning to start a blog here on the Keepr website for a few months now. One, because it gives me a place to share a little bit about how this brand came to be, and two because hopefully, it will drive traffic. I’m the kind of person that gets an idea and runs with it, not really giving much thought as to whether or not it's going to be successful - or even what the workload will be to keep it afloat. I suppose this will be a space to share the challenges of starting and sustaining a small business plus an assortment of other random stories that feel appropriate.

Writing isn’t hard for me. I do it all the time - just most often it’s for myself. I’m going to try to do one blog post a week, even if it’s just a few paragraphs or sentences.

Keeprwear wouldn’t have been possible if not for at least two specific people and one very special place - Bali. I’ll start there. I came to Bali right before the pandemic for one month. It had been on my radar for a while but I think the hype actually turned me off to the place. I’m not a chaser of Instagram locations and usually try to avoid them. An influencer flood washes away the authenticity of a place and turns it into something different - something artificial.

A friend I used to teach yoga with convinced me though. She had been living there for a few months and had nothing but great things to say about it. I don’t know if I would call her an influencer - I’m not even sure if I want to call myself that even though I do have a large-ish following. Social media talk is something for another time. I do believe it’s a great tool but I also believe it needs to evolve if humans are going to evolve. Right now it feels more like a distraction than anything.

Bali was the opposite of that - it was a magical place, welcoming visitors from all over the world - while still holding firm to its values and beliefs. Never have I visited a place that has assimilated nature and spirituality into everyday life with such devotion. In hindsight, I’m actually very grateful that I didn’t come to Bali sooner. I have explored South East Asia pretty extensively and if I had come to Bali earlier, I might not have ever left. It’s all the best things about South East Asia mushed together into a unique culture contained on one small, sweet island.

I miss it now as I talk about it. I also miss what it was like during the pandemic when the only foreigners there were the ones that either had the connections or the desire to jump through the necessary hoops to stay. It’s still a magical place - literally - I’ve experienced both light and dark magic there - but it’s become so popular that the magic gets suppressed. That’s something I’m working on - letting go of what Bali was and what I think Bali should be. It did feel like a second home to me, and it still does in certain ways, but ultimately - it is not my home. The Balinese people get to decide what is right for them and I have to respect that. I just really miss the place. I’m also just feeling a little funky today but decided to write anyway.

That’s a big part of any business - showing up even when you feel funky. Sales have been but I trust they will pick up as long as I continue to do the work. I’m going to go make breakfast now. Thanks for reading. Next time I’ll dive further into how Bali itself was the catalyst for starting a sustainable, organic clothing brand - something I’ve been considering ever since starting up a modeling career over a decade ago.