So I saw this idea of dying shoes ombre not too long ago, and was keen on giving it a go! This DIY is surprisingly easy and I love the result!
You will need
Fabric dye in the colour of your choice
A bowl of cold or lukewarm water
A stainless steel bowl or pot
Ribbon (optional)
Boiling water
An old rag
Gloves
Salt
What to do
In the instructions I found it was always recommended to put vaseline on the rubber rim to keep the dye from staining it. But actually this is a completely redundant step as the dye doesn't really cling to the rubber.
So just remove the laces and wet your shoes.
Mix the salt with boiling water in the stainless steel bowl. Check the directions on your fabric dye to see how much you need.
Get your gloves on and add about a third of the fabric dye to your mix. Dip your shoes in halfway down and keep them there for a minute. Pour out the dye that's left in the shoe. Now wet the old rag with the cold water and blend the colour with this. Don't worry if there's barely any colour on the shoes at this point.
Then add another third of the dye to the mix and dip the shoes in for another minute. Be sure to dip them in less deep this time! Blend the edges of the colour with the rag again.
For the darkest bit, add the remaining dye and dip in the tips of the shoes for a few minutes whilst moving them up and down slightly.
Pour out the dye if any is left inside the shoes, blend the colour, and let the dye sit for an hour. I hung my shoes so that if the water would be pulled downwards by gravity, it would go to the tips, which are supposed to get the darkest anyway. At this point you can wipe off any dye from the rubber rim.
When the wait's over, rinse with cold water.
And let them dry overnight.
You can wear them like this or customise the shoes a bit more. You could add some studs, but what I did was replace the original laces for ribbon.
And that is all! It took far less time than I expected and also turned out very well!
Enjoy your shoes!
Sincerely,
R.
