I’ve been wanting dark green Converse for quite some time now, but the only green they offer is a kelly green. At Converse.com you can now order custom shoes from a selection of colors and prints. It is a pretty neat option, but costs $17 more plus shipping. I decided to go a cheaper route and bought white canvas shoes with plans to dye them green.
I picked up a package of dark green RIT dye (powder) from Walmart for $1.65 and gathered supplies. You will need:
- RIT dye (powder or liquid)
- bucket or sink
- old towel
- mixing bowl or old plastic container
- 1 cup salt
- 1 tablespoon laundry detergent
First you want to fill a mixing bowl or plastic container with hot water. I used an old Harkins cup. Mix in your powder dye until completely dissolved. If you choose liquid dye, you can skip this step. Next, fill your bucket or sink with hot water and add the salt and laundry detergent. I used a small bucket and an entire package of RIT dye.
Next, mix your dye into your water bath. Be careful with splattering and be sure to wipe up any spills immediately. Remove the laces and place your shoes in the bucket. The shoes will float to the surface, so to avoid this I used two bamboo skewers to hold them down. I left them in the dye for about 20 minutes. When your shoes look good and done, carefully empty your bucket. Rinse the shoes first with warm water and then cold. You will want the water to run clear.
I let the shoes sit for 5 minutes, rinsed again, and then set them on a towel to dry for the night. The next morning I threw them into the dryer and ran it for 10 minutes. Then I added black laces and voila: dark green.
EDIT: Frequently Asked Question
Will the rubber soles absorb the dye?
I’ve never had a problem with the rubber absorbing the dye, but I have heard of some people having issues. If your soles do stain, try scrubbing them with a magic eraser or with a paste made of equal parts hot water, baking soda, and white vinegar.
95 Comments
Just lovely, looks like fun! I’m sure you’ve been wearing them for awhile now so how are your shoes holding up after the dye treatment? did the durability and comfort of the insole seem to be affected at all once the shoes were done? I’m having trouble finding a size 12 pair of these for my husband in the colour he wants so we may end up trying the dye technique – any other helpful tips?
Thanks! ~Jill~
The shoes are holding up great! It seems like the soak in the dye bath actually made them more comfortable. The canvas feels a lot softer. With wear, the color has faded slightly, but I think I like them even more now. They still feel very custom!
I’d say go for it! If you are skeptical, you can always pick up some canvas or muslin from the fabric store and do a test run with the color dye you choose. It’s sometimes hard to predict how the color will turn out, and this can give you a better idea. Good luck!
Did you mean for them to be a dark green? cause they look like a mint.
That and how did the laces not absorb the color?
I’m sorry not the laces; I ment the stitching on the shoes.
They are the dark green that RIT makes, as opposed to their Kelly Green color. You could mix any color with black dye to get it darker.
I didn’t have to do anything with the stitches. They don’t seem to absorb any of the dye. Hope that helps!
Hey,
Thanks so much for this! I followed your guide and I dyed my chucks black. It worked well, and I think too well, in fact.
Because now the rubber parts (the ones which are supposed to be white), have been blackened a bit. Would you know of a way to fix that so they’d be white just like the result of your work?
To clean the rubber soles of my Converse, I use a mixture of equal parts hot water, baking soda, and white vinegar. It should create kind of a paste. Just scrub it into the soles with a toothbrush and then rinse with warm water.
I’ve never had to remove dye from the soles, but I’d try this and see if it helps. Hope it all comes out!
Thanks!
I actually tried scrubbing those parts with detergent REALLY hard and most of it has come off.
But maybe if I try your advice I can make the soles look brand new.
hi i love that you posted this i own 40 plus pairs of chucks and i want to dye my boots red i was wondering how you keep the soles from getting dyed?
Nice! That should be a fun project. I’ve dyed a handful of my Converse and I’ve actually never had an issue with the rubber soles soaking up any of the color. If they do absorb some of the color, giving them a good scrub with a mixture of hot water, baking soda, and white vinegar should do the trick.
I have some old dark green high top shoes that I found at a vintage clothing store here in Seattle. Because of their age, they wore out pretty quickly, but these are my favourite shoes!
But they either need to be replaced or repaired.
I notice that your shoes are a very different shade of green than mine. My shoes are a rich colour, do you think I can achieve a colour less muted than the one yours did? Would the remedy be leaving them in longer, or would this end up warping the rubber soles/otherwise damaging the shoe?
Leaving the shoes in the dye longer does increase the richness of color and I’ve never noticed any issues with warping or damage. You may want to explore other colors of dye or even mixing dyes. Perhaps mixing dark green with kelly green could give you the result you’re looking for. I’d recommend doing a test run with canvas or muslin to try and find the right combination. Good luck!
Wow, they look really good! Did the stitching stay White by itself or did you do anything to it to prevent them also going green?
Nope, I didn’t do anything extra to the stitching. Just worked out that way!
hey. Do u think i can use hairdye? Im in South Africa..dont really know where 2 get powder dye
You know, I really have no idea. Since I’m sure fabric and hair have different absorbency issues, I’d try doing some sort of test first. If I were to make a guess, I’d think hair dye would stain the rubber.
Sorry to not be of more help. Let me know what you decide to do!
do u think i can use hair dye? Or food coloring?
I’m not really sure if hair dye or food coloring would work. In the previous comment, I mentioned I think the hair dye might stain the rubber. The problem with food color is that the color will most likely run if the shoes get wet again.
I’d recommend doing a test first before you commit to your Converse. Let me know what you decide to do!
sorry for commenting on a year old topic. Maybe the picture doesn’t do the color job justice…but it doesn’t look much like dark green. It looked dark green wet, but much lighter dry.
But that’s not point. What I really want to know are the inside soles. Did they dye as well and does the dye tint your white socks?
I like how what is suppose to be white stayed white.(stiching, logo, outside rubber) I can’t quite see inside the shoe to see if soles got dyed. I just don’t want to tint all my white socks. If the inside soles got dyed, it would really stain your socks if you got your kicks wet.
Thanks for any follow up.
The color is more of a forrest green, as opposed to the kelly green color RIT dye also offers.
To answer your question: Yes, the inside soles absorb the color also and no, I have never had the color tint white socks. As long as you are using a real fabric dye and don’t skimp on the rinsing step, you shouldn’t have any issues. I use RIT dye whenever possible as color running has never been a problem. I’ve used it to dye shoes, clothes, and canvas.
Hope that helps!
Thanks for replying.
I tried to dye my maroon chucks to black. Didn’t come out half bad, but my whites didn’t stay white.
Even with a good scrubbing of toothpaste, its kinda gray now.
Anyway, thanks for the writeup and reply!
So I bought a pair of orange-ish Jack Terrell’s and over time the’ve turned a little pink from wear. I bought some blue RIT dye to color them…
My real question though is, will the dye dye the white rubber? I see you’re shoes’ the rubber is still nice and white, and the stitching and All Star logo are still pristine… Did you do anything to keep them that way or did they just not get dyed?
Thanks a ton
I didn’t do anything special to keep the rubber and logo from absorbing the dye. I’ve dyed about 4 pairs of Converse over the last few years and I’ve never had an issue with that. Hope yours goes just as well!
2 more questions, did you just use normal kitchen salt? hot should the water be? boiling?
Yes, I used normal kitchen salt. I also used the hottest water directly from my faucet. It was steaming, but not boiling.
What would i do for turning black chucks to white chucks would i need more dye???
You probably won’t have very good results trying to turn black Chucks white.
You’d have to bleach them which can leave uneven coloring and may yield a yellowish or beige color.
If you’re looking for bright white, I’d recommend buying them that way.
Hi i have pink chucks and i want to dye it blue,
but im afraid it would come out as purple.
any suggestions on how i can achieve the color blue?
Thanks!!!!
You’d probably have to bleach your shoes first. This will take a lot of the pink out and leave the canvas a yellowish off-white. I’ve never dyed canvas after it’s been bleached, so I can’t promise great results with the blue. Good luck!
Hi and thanks for this, it looks great, I wanted to knw if this would work with light blue converse?
If it does work, what color should I use to get a dark blue shade?
You might want to check out Rit’s website. They have a lot of info on various colors and how to achieve them. To get really dark blue, you may want to mix blue and black dye.
thank you
Hello
Well While i Was Scrubbing The White Rubber With Bleach On My Green Chucks It Ended Up Getting On The Shoe . & i Wanted To Know If The Green You Did On Your Converse Turned Out The Same Color As Any Other Green Converse In A Store ?
Bummer! No, the green that resulted from dying my Chucks did not match any Chucks I’ve seen in stores. I’m not certain how many shades of green Chucks can be purchased in, but I’ve mostly seen ones that are a brighter, kelly green. It will be pretty hard to spot dye your shoes and if you dye them using the method I did, you’ll still result in uneven coloring where the bleach was. But at least it’ll be closer in color than bleach spots.
If you don’t want any spots of uneven coloring, you could try bleaching the entire shoe and re-dying another color. Good luck!
i have some pink chucks and i wonder if i could paint them red do you think it will work rit red dye powder…?
If you want to dye your Chucks red, just follow the instructions on the package. Pink to red shouldn’t be much of an issue.
I wouldn’t recommend painting them. If all you want is a solid color change, definitely dye them.
Hello all,
I figured I would give my Red converse low tops a dye job after reading this blog. I went and bought Wine and Navy Blue as I wanted the color to be a dark maroon. I followed the directions and the shoes came out fantastic for the canvas color. However, the entire rubber parts were stained pretty badly on both shoes with a pinkish tone. I took a scotch brite pad and also a heavy duty scrub brush and scrubbed them for about 35 minutes. I tried Goo Gone, Greased Lightning and Gel strip paint remover and finally got the rubber back close to white. There are spots that are not going to come clean at this point, but they are wearable now. Be aware that if you use this method, you may end up with Stained Rubber! By the way to the original poster… They make a color called ” Greener Pastures” for Chucks and It is a much better Green than the Kelly Green. Here is a link to a pair at Zappos. http://www.zappos.com/converse-chuck-taylor-all-star-specialty-seasonal-ox-greener-pastures
CHeers Everyone.
KidFresh
Thanks for the info! I’ve been trying to figure out why some people’s soles pick up the dye and others’ don’t.
I tend to think it depends on how new your Converse are. I’ve always dyed my shoes when they are relatively new and the rubber hasn’t had a chance to wear down. I may try dying some older ones to see if I encounter the same problem.
Tks for the comments. I just wanted to add that my Red Converse were practically new also. The soles and rubber parts were brand new white and hardly any wear was on them. I will say that the stitching did stay white and that was a relief. I do believe that you can get the White rubber parts looking 90 percent good again with some serious extra scrubbing effort.
Lynn, tks again for sharing the How To. Cheers,
Kid
Do you think it would work using black rit powdered dye on red converse?
I tend to think you’ll have good results. Depending on how long you leave them in the dye, you might get a deep red rather than black. Good luck!
I also have a pack of the rit color remover…what do you think?should I use that first then dye them black?the shoes are about a year old but only been worn a handful of times . O ya befor I forget what can be used in place of laundry soap? Do you think shampoo would be ok? Thanks. Ima a converse lover. I don’t wear anything else lol.
Hey Lynn, how many ounces was the dye powder that you used. Thanks! and great post!
Thanks, Joseph! The rit dye powder I used was the 1 and 1/8 oz package. Good luck with yours!
My 14yo daughter left her brand new navy Vans out in the sun for over a week (to dry after she stepped in manure during our trip to a farm…yuck!) Well, she was devastated when she realized they were ‘ruined’. I did a little research immediately (last night) and bought the dye today. THANK YOU for posting such terrific instructions and saving my teenager’s most prized (this week) possession
They’re drying now…EVERYTHING turned blue but we (I, mostly) scrubbed the heck out of the sidewalls (?) and eyelit holes to get them as white as I could (used a combo of your suggestion with some salt, dishwasher and dish detergent & solumel stain remover on a magic eraser, for good measure.) If you don’t hear anything from me after they’re dried, then it worked like a charm!
Thanks again for your instructions
Hello im thinking of buying some white converses and turning them teal colour. I think this is a great idea, how doesnt the all star sign turn a different colour and what shade is this dye? thankyou – nicole:-)
The All Star logo shouldn’t absorb any of the dye. I’ve never had that problem and, so far, no one has mentioned that problem to me. So I think you can be confident it won’t.
Go to the RIT dye website to look at all the colors they have available. They also have a guide on how to mix colors together to get pretty much any color you’d want. Good luck!
i want to dye my hot pink chucks black would this work? iv had them for years though and dont want the soles to change colour would rubbing vaseline on the soles keep the dye from effecting them?
I’ve never tried putting anything on the soles to keep them from absorbing the dye. Some people have been having that problem. Because your shoes are older and probably worn out, I’d guess you will too.
All I can offer is what I use to clean the soles of my shoes. This may help clean up any dye. Mix equal parts hot water, baking soda, and white vinegar. Scrub the rubber with this paste then rinse with warm water. Good luck!
Will the white rubber soles and the converse logo on the tip of the tongue stain? Please reply
I have not seen the soles or logos absorb any of the dye. Some previous commenters have seen it happen.
If the soles do end up absorbing dye, try cleaning it with a paste consisting of equal parts hot water, baking soda, and white vinegar. Good luck!
And one more question. Will maroon chucks to black be a problem? Thanks for replying to my previous one too
Maroon to black shouldn’t be an issue. It’s going from dark to light that causes problems.
Hi ! First of all, Thanks a lot for the post ! I was thinking to dye my White Converse Crowd ox printed Chucks to the same color that you have ended up in the picture. Condition of the shoes is they’re a week old with quite a bit of dirt and worn rubber(very less). So, if I dye them with the same procedure, will I end up staining the rubber ? (Ofcourse, you can’t guarantee that. No issues.). Based on your experience, how to end up the dye not getting absorbed to the rubber material.
I’m leaving the link of how they look like.
http://bagginsshoes.com/images/Z/108698-ct-crowd-ox-wht-b-18389-0z.jpg
I’m wearing them with Black laces.
xD
Awesome shoes! I don’t know of any preventative methods for keeping the soles dye-free. I personally haven’t had any issues with that, but some people have. All I can recommend, if they do absorb some of the dye, is to scrub them with a paste made up of equal parts hot water, baking soda, and white vinegar. Hope they turn out!
Thanks for such a quick reply and the compliment :”) !
By the way, I love the color of your custom shoe ( Jealous, though. xD ).
I have to check with the kind of material they’re made of. I’m sure they are nt made of natural fibers. Have to check online for the Rit dyes as I live in India. I’m not sure i can find them here.
Can you guess the material they’re made out of by looking at the picture from the link ? Thanks.
It looks like they are the standard canvas, but you’d probably know best!
how did u avoid dying the white stitch lines?
I didn’t do anything special to keep the stitch lines white. It seems they just didn’t absorb any of the dye and it worked out!
I have a light pink pair of all star converse that are badly faded and i want to dye them bright pink. so im going to tape the white rubber, soak them in warm water and then apply the dye by han using a paint brush, that way nothing i dont want to dye will end up pink. then leave them to dry for a day or 2 then soak in water to remove any excess dye then leave to dry again and add new white laces. Theyre pretty old but i want to keep using them and hopefully it goes well. p.s i have another pair of converse that are oil stained on the rubber and are now and orange colour, any idea how to make them white again? or are they dead?
I’ve never tried paining with the dye. Hope that works for you. As for your other pair, you could try to bleach them, but I don’t know if they’ll ever get back to white white. Good luck!
Hey, how did the painting on work? Is there an even colour? Did the rubber stain? I wanna dye my chucks but I really don’t want the rubber to stain :/
I just dyed my shoes, no painting. The rubber shouldn’t stain, but if it does, you can use a magic eraser or a paste made of hot water, baking soda, and white vinegar. Good luck!
WHAT BRAND LAUNDRY DETERGENT DID YOU USE
I don’t think it matters as long as it’s basic detergent. I happened to use All detergent this time, but I’ve used Tide in the past.
hi, i have some high top white chuck taylors and i was wondering if the circular logo on the side of the shoe would change colour when dyed?
Nope, the logo shouldn’t absorb any of the dye.
Hello,
I just dyed a pair of white high top converse purple and now my soles are light purple. I have tried scrubbing with water/baking soda/vinegar mixture, soft scrub, a magic eraser and even clorox but can’t seem to whiten the soles. Anyone have any ideas of what I can use to clean the soles? Thanx!!!
Is it possible to dye them hot pink?
Yes, you can dye fabric almost any color you want. Check out Rit dye’s website to see all the colors they have. You can mix different colors of dye as well. Have fun!
can i dye my bright orange converse black? or do i have to remove the original dye first? and how do i do that?
Yes, you can. You probably don’t need to remove the original dye first, but it couldn’t hurt. To remove the dye, you would need to bleach them. Good luck!
hi lynn i have some black chuck taylors and they have like brown stains on the sides…i was wondering if i dye my shoes black again would i still see the stains after i dye it…please reply
Hey Malcolm,
I don’t know about how the stained areas will absorb the dye. It will probably depend on what kind of stains they are. Before trying to dye them, I would definitely wash them as thoroughly as you can. Good luck!
For instance I want to dye it black just listen to the following but wouldn’t the white part turn black and does it worm to make blfaded black darker please answer!
It’s possible the white rubber could absorb some of the dye, especially if they are very worn. I’ve never had it as an issue, but others certainly have.
You’d need to scrub the soles if they do take some of the dye. A magic eraser works or a mixture of hot water, baking soda, and white vinegar.
I like faded out colors , do I use less dye or less soak time ?
And where would be a good place to find a wide selection of dyes .
I would do less soak time rather than less dye. As for dyes, ordering them online will give you the best selection. Or check local fabric and craft stores.
Hey lynn, I just tried your technique in dying shoes and all my concerns were just first-timers’ anxieties. The rubber stayed white. The dye really did its job and the great thing about it is its now a good yellow color from its original brown. My vans shoes were pre-owned so its quite old but still it got results just like yours. Your shoes were totally good looking since it was brand new but I felt as if I bought another brand new pair. thanks
That’s amazing! I’m so glad things worked out.
Hey,I did this to some of my shoes and the shoe looks fine.But the rubber sole got stained too!How can I clean it?
Try a magic eraser or a scrub mixture of hot water, baking soda, and white vinegar.
Thank you so much!BTW your kicks look so cool!!
I have some dark blue chucks that are kind of faded and have bleach on it. If i dye it with black dye will it make it darker?
Yes, it will make the shoes darker. If there are bleach spots, it will probably not dye evenly though. Good luck!
Hi, I was wondering, how did you get the label on the tongue to stay white? Thanks
I didn’t do anything special. It shouldn’t absorb any of the dye!
Yes i waswondering….did you use liquid or powdered laundry detergent, or does it matter? Please and Thank you
I used liquid detergent. I’m not sure if it matters, and I vaguely remember the package giving some guidance on this. Be sure to read the instructions that come with the dye and you should be fine!
looks good! I’ve got a question, how can I dye my red chucks into dark red?
I’d recommend looking at Rit’s color formula guide: http://www.ritdye.com/colorit_color_formula_guide
Good luck!
An outstanding share! I have just forwarded this onto a coworker who has been conducting a little research on
this. And he in fact ordered me lunch due to the fact that
I found it for him… lol. So let me reword this..
.. Thanks for the meal!! But yeah, thanks for spending the time to discuss this issue here on your web
page.
Ha! That’s awesome. Hope it was tasty!
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