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According to fashion experts around the globe, tie-dye emerged as one of the biggest trends in 2020 with various brands featuring the 60s-inspired psychedelic print on lounge wear, sneakers, active wear and other comfy, chic designs.
It particularly grew in popularity during quarantine time as many picked up the do-it-yourself colourful craft while stuck at home. Some tried their hand at it for therapeutic purposes while others simply wanted to look fresh and cool in the fashionable style. It’s also an easy way to up-cycle pieces that have been collecting dust.
However, not everyone has to be crafty to join the trend as Bahraini buddies Esra Nuruddin and Lamia Alajaji are giving people a chance to adorn a range of vibrantly-hued designs with their hand-made tie-dye fashion brand, The Good-natured.
The 33-year-old mothers of twins first launched their business on Instagram in 2018 with the Ramadan kaftan and eventually the collection grew to feature dresses, shirt dresses and rompers too.
Lamia said: “Our designs are meant to inspire and promote a kind, good-natured, state of mind. Creating gives us such a wonderful feeling and we get an even better feeling when our followers love and appreciate our products. Building this brand has been such an amazing journey for us.”
Lamia, studied early childhood education in Boston and taught various ages for eight years before falling into the fashion business. She took a break from teaching for a while to have her own babies and she was then able to focus more on The Good-natured as it kept growing with each collection.
She said: “I have always loved tie-dye through my travels to Thailand and Bali. I also have a boho laid back style.”
Meanwhile Esra, who also loves tie-dye, studied public relations in the University College of Bahrain and taught at the London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art.
While she loved teaching, she veered her focus more towards her twins and her business with Lamia.
She said: “We always loved the idea of doing something that we can make ourselves. When we had the idea of tie-dye, it gave us a good push. We wanted to create one-of-a-kind designs that are more relatable to Bahrain and the Gulf.
“Hence, we taught ourselves tie-dye through lots of research. We found different techniques and have fun creating different colour combinations based on the season.”
The ladies create limited quantities of their seasonal collections for Ramadan, summer and winter. They take inspiration from all around the world and from what they personally adore.
Esra said: “We love flowy, breathable fabrics and cotton is always our go-to material. We source and make everything in Bahrain, except for the dyes which we get from abroad and are 100 per cent toxin free. Our own babies wear our tie-dyes.”
Prices range from BD30 to BD50.
For details, follow @thegood.natured on Instagram.
