Dyeing ACU gear.....ideas needed

[Kraut783]

So....I got this great low profile TAG chest rig...love it, unfortunately it's in ACU. Of course, they do not make this model any more, I would like to blacken / darken it for use at work.

Any ideas? anyone do this with success.....dyeing, spray painting...??

 

[Diamondback 2/2]

I've done Ritts liquid black dye on acu's and turned them into a gray/black configuration. But I don't have any experience with nylon gear. I imagine you would need something more aggressive to penetrate the nylon fibers. I have spray painted a lot of gear. It will cracking over time, and stinks like spray paint. For field gear it's not bad, breaking up outline, but you will smell like a paint can.

Some form of an aggressive staining would be my guess. I've got some old acu gear I'll mess around with and see, let you know here in a couple of days...

 

[TLDR20]

Lots and lots of McKall red clay and a little bit of black mud does wonders on the color of ACU's...

 

[Kraut783]

Some form of an aggressive staining would be my guess. I've got some old acu gear I'll mess around with and see, let you know here in a couple of days...

Thanks DB, let me know....I will be playing around with some old gear too. The whole smelling like a paint can would suck.

 

[Ranger Psych]

coffee.

 

[digrar]

We used to take a piece of cam to the hardware store and get the paint department to colour match up some paint test pots. Then just dab it on.

 

[DocIllinois]

I used a mix of green and tan RIT dye to color a couple sets for a JRTC OPFOR rotation at Polk.

It turned out a kind of nice mixmash olive drab. The funk from two solid weeks in a defensive position in the summer gave them a permanent putrid color toucher.

 

[Devildoc]

I used a mix of green and tan RIT dye to color a couple sets for a JRTC OPFOR rotation at Polk.

It turned out a kind of nice mixmash olive drab. The funk from two solid weeks in a defensive position in the summer gave them a permanent putrid color toucher.

Yeah, RIT.

That smell, that smell of sweat, BO, and funk married to nylon and canvas, it's permanently imprinted in my brain