Wild Dyes – Wild plants to Dye clothes By Andy Hamilton

If you were a clothing maker back in the early 19th century you would have had to rely on nature if you wished to change the colour of any of your garments; using roots and leaves and even dried insects. It was not until 1856 when William Henry Perkin artificially produced a lavender dye, purely by accident whilst messing about with coal tar that the now widespread usage of synthetic dyes transformed the clothing industry.