Dyemaster Mike Barker
I started my tie-dye career in the late 80s traveling with the Grateful Dead for seven years. I love all types of music, especially classic and hard rock. The lot scene and the vending at various events is a big part of my life. I love all the great people I meet and all the great music. Tie dye is a natural fit. Over the years, I've collected hundreds of great musicians autographs and memorabilia. I've been lucky to have gone to thousands of concerts and shows, and probably sold tens of thousands of tie-dyes.

In the late 90s, I set-up a tie-dye shirt and tie dye tapestry booth at many, many amazing shows by Grateful Dead tribute bands (such as Xtra Ticket & The Noodles), nearly every Sunday and Thursday for over five years. Luckily, it looks like some of this great music is just starting to finally come back to the Phoenix area~!

The tie-dyed life has been going well, and despite an incredible string of five Dead shows in 2009 that really catapulted my year to Grateness, I've had some tough challenges recently. In 2010, my trusty old VW Bus had an engine fire that burned out the whole back end of the van. So I wasn't able to get around to so many events too easily. Also, in May of 2011, I moved after 14 years in the same house. What a big change! But the new place has a great garage, and I'm back to tie-dying as much as I can. My hands are pretty much permanently stained from the dyes, but Dyemasters is the real deal.

No Fade, No Bleed, Pre-Washed Twice, Dryer-Shrunk, Heavyweight, Top-Quality 100% Cotton, All-American Tie Dye featuring over 100 designs... Not made in China.

Dyemaster Ray Bangs
I got into tie-dye early, thanks to my mother who would use RIT dyes to give new life to old white t-shirts. I soon discovered that bleach could do some cool things to colors too. But it wasn't until I met tie-dye Mike in 2004 when I really got into tie-dye. He was selling tie dye shirts and tapestries when I went to see my favorite local band, Xtra Ticket. We became buddies and soon started working together. He showed me a few things and I practiced on my own, but very quickly realized I'd never reach his tie-dye artistry or skill level. Now I mostly just tie dye for fun, and whenever we get swamped getting ready for big events or shows.

Since I've been building websites since the mid-90s, the perfect job for me because I can do it from anywhere, even while on the road in my old VW bus, soon I built this new website for Dyemasters. Mike and I decided to partner up to really spread some colorful clothing around the world. In 2009, we made a few hundred shirts, and I headed out on a 10k+ mile roadtrip almost completely funded by selling and trading tie-dye shirts for concert tickets and gas money. Talk about the good life! ~ These days, I'm still building websites, have a ton of hobbies to keep me busy, and enjoy living on a small farm in Oregon with my dogs, horses, chickens, and gardens. Slowly but surely, I'm putting together a nice inventory of tie dye shirts for my next big VW bus roadtrip to escape the rainy winter here. I stay busy managing wholesale orders, and helping Mike keep organized and caught up as we see tie dye orders from all over the world. Obviously, almost everybody loves tie-dye... And recently, we've discovered just how effective and popular Dyemasters' beautiful tie dye shirts can be to really help make a screen-printed company or event logo stand out from the crowd. Please contact Ray to discuss how Dyemasters tie dye might be the perfect compliment to your brand.