Where can I find blank white T shirts (with nothing on it)? I am thinking of Diwha street as they sell a ton of textile items but any other suggestion?
Also does anyone actually sell Procion MX type dyes in Taiwan? I seen dyestuff here but they look unknown. I know how to order it online but I prefer to not import anything if possible.
Costco has good quality men’s 100% cotton undershirts (identical to white t-shirts) at a reasonable price. However, the stitching is not cotton, so your Procion will dye the fabric, but leave very visible stitching marks. Here is an example so you can decide for yourself whether that is a detracting factor:
(The background wine color is Procion MX; the other colors are Pentel Fabric Fun pastel dye sticks.)
If on the other hand you order ready-to-dye shirts with cotton stitching from, say, DharmaTrading.com, you’ll get more professional results where the stitching takes the same color as the shirt, as here:
(The background is Procion MX; the image is a permanent pigment ink drawing pen.)
As for Procion-type dyes, I think the Hands Tailung shop in Breeze (6F) sells some fiber reactive dyes in tiny, expensive jars. I believe Lupillus used them successfully. I cannot guarantee that they are Procion MX. There’s also a Hands in Mitsukoshi A4, 5F, another in Sogo, 10F (Zhongxiao E. Rd.), but I don’t know whether they carry the same dyes.
I imported mine from DharmaTrading. BTW, I got the pastel dye sticks at Bada Art Supply near Shida, for only NT$50 a box. HIGHLY recommended, and lots of fun.
I had T shirts that used cotton stiching but in addition to being expensive (because a number of T shirts weights a lot) cotton falls apart over time and I got a few that are in good condition but the stitching failed. Unless they sell shirts with cotton stitching in Taiwan.
I rather doubt you’ll find them in Taiwan, but you never know. Anyway, the wine tee above still looks nice; you just have to accept the white highlight stitching as part of the deal. Or you could use a dye for polyester and another for cotton. 
The tees at Dharma are so incredibly cheap that it might still be worth paying for the shipping. Depends on your purpose and budget, I guess, though.
I found a few suppliers on yahoo auction that sold blank tees for 100nt each… not sure about quality however. How much was the ones at Costco?
They weren’t expensive, and they were excellent quality, but I don’t recall the price. I’ll have a look for you next time I’m there if I remember.
You can get good quality blank white T-shirts at Wu Fun Pu.
I purchased quite a few for printing. I purchased the higher thread count type. I got 35 of them at around 110 dollars each.
There’s one place you can call: 2769-6889, 2765-3825
Address: Taipei City, Yong Ji Rd, Lane 443, alley 11, No. 29
They manage printing too at extra cost.
Any idea whether those are cotton or poly stitching? I’m interested, too, if they’re good quality cotton stitching.
By the way I also want to see if I can get some Sodium Alginates locally. I know of a chemical store that sells it (I plan on getting the rest of the chemicals like soda ash and urea there as they sell it at 60nt per kg) however they will only sell it at huge quantities (at least a pound) at around 600nt a pound and I really don’t need that much. I only need it to add to dye mixtures in order to prevent the dye from running too much (I will be tie dying) especially for darker colors. If anyone knows of a place where I can get them in smaller quantities that would be great, or if anyone is willing to sell or give me a few ounces of the stuff…
I only want to order dyes from Dharma since there’s a certain threshold that if I go over the shipping goes up dramatically. I got 2oz of each lemon yellow, turquoise, and mixing red and black and once I added 4oz of Alginate it added about 7 dollars to my shipping cost.
I could definitely spare some urea, as well as cream of tartar, citric acid and alum at cost if you happen to need some of those (they’re common chemicals for dyeing, although not for Procion MX). I think someone here had some spare sodium alginate – maybe rahimiiii? I only have an ounce or two so I want to hang onto that, as well as my soda ash. I paid top dollar to bring the latter in from Dharma and need it for my Procion and my indigo vat. I’d VERY much like to know if there’s a local source that’s cheap, though, for soda ash as well as alum, and might be willing to split a pound at some point in the future.
I wasn’t clear on your prices – which was 60nt/lb, and which was 600?
what about large sizes like 3xl?
Sodium alginate was about 600nt a pound. They won’t sell less than that.
Taiwan Luthiers,
Would you mind posting a link for any of the suppliers you found on yahoo? I was searching for t-shirts (kids’ in particular) but just couldn’t find a first link to get me started.
Thanks in advance for your help.
100% cotton
Here’s one:
tw.page.bid.yahoo.com/tw/auction … ce00000001
They are all over yahoo once you browse the T shirt section. Look for plain T shirts. I do not know what their weight or whatever is, I would assume it’s the same as any plain T’s you’d find anywhere.
I found a supplier for reactive dyes but upon further research it seems they are Procion H type dyes that requires hot water (steaming). I wonder if they will work for tie dyes if I just placed it in a steam box (you know the ones they cook BouTzi in) and cooked it… I still prefer MX though but the only detracting factor is they go bad fairly quickly!
I’ve got some white cotton t-shirts left over from my last dying if you are still interested in buying em. Got some dyes too. Why are you dying? For fun or you need some tie dyed t-shirts? I have a bunch left over.
I actually had this same problem. Just for undershirts for under my work shirt. But look no further than EVERY 7-11 and Family mart. They all have white t-shirts in stock.
If your looking for something nicer as I was you can check out the hanes store in a ximending. But they are ridiculously priced for “pure american cotton” as I would not pay more then 3 USD for shirts I was paying 500 NT each for here.
Cost-co would also.