Nike x Rit Ice Dye Tutorials

February 22 2022

We launched the Nike x Rit collaboration on SNKRS last week and to our surprise, it immediately sold out. The kit included a 80% cotton sweatshirt, Kelly Green and Purple powder dyes, an assortment of official Nike iron-on patches, gloves, rubber bands and an instructional guide. Even though the kit is sold out on SNKRS, our video tutorials (made in partnership with Nike) are still available to help you do-it-yourself at home. Watch them below to get started.

This is a three-part series showcasing easy-to-follow Ice Dye tutorials for all levels. We broke it down into beginner, intermediate and expert with our in-house artist (and a special guest ☺️). From simple scrunch ice dye to pleated incline ice dye–we cover it all. Watch them below to get started on your ice dye journey.

Beginner | Ice Dye Scrunch

It doesn’t get any easier than scrunch. Simply scrunch the sweatshirt, cover it with ice, sprinkle the powder dye over the ice and watch the ice melt to create your masterpiece.

Intermediate | Ice Dye Scrunch + Pleat

We’re taking it to the next level with pleated sleeves. Scrunch the body of the sweatshirt just like the beginner tutorial, but this time we’re going to pleat the sleeves. Instead of putting the dye over the ice, we placed the dye underneath the ice to get more precise with color placement.

Expert | Incline Ice Dye

This is for those looking for a challenge. We created a circular pleat and bound the sweatshirt placing the powder dye under the ice. We then let the ice melt at an incline. This creates a unique design that pulls the dye towards the center of the sweatshirt.

Behind the Design

And lastly, to celebrate the drop of the Nike DIY Kit, we invited our painter + dyer + friend Juliet Johnstone to the Rit factory in Indianapolis. We walked her through where we do the liquid mixing in three tanks. Each tank can hold 19,200lbs of liquid dye and one tank fills 48,000 bottles. We then visited the production line where empty bottles are loaded, filled, capped sleeved and packed up. Finally, we went upstairs to Juliet’s favorite part: the Lab. This is where the magic, and science happens. Watch the full video here.