I heart Market: illustrations

Dirty Indigo
Good product, right message and keeping it east of the coast.

Think trendy, design and style – Dirty Indigo has it all. Described as an "indigenously" tailored product, crafted the ”old school” way, it satisfies the need for authentic localism in the City of Durban and so much more.

Where most commercial fashion brands display the usual imported humdrum, Dirty Indigo gladly stumbles through the beautiful chaos of our local culture, searching for an honest, clean, clearer and more tangible identity. The designs and styles are cut and sewn locally with each item touched by the hand of its creators from conception and artwork through to hand held screen-printing.

Owner and designer Tav Naidoo is one of I Heart Market’s fantastic traders, adding a unique and diverse element of style to the market atmosphere. We spent some time with Dirty Indigo recently to find out more about Tav’s success and inspiration for his work.

1. Tell us a bit about your product and how you started the brand Dirty Indigo?

Dirty indigo was created with the idea of Authentic Local ‘flava’. By this we mean with the chaos of our local culture. As we know, our country is filling up with international brands and there philosophies. When I walked around Durban I saw so many people
wearing t-shirts saying “I LOVE NY”, that just caused us to clinch our teeth. So from there we decided that we were going to create cutting-edge, trendy prints for t-shirts
using our city and its culture as inspiration.

The big question was…how would we get the formula right?
The plan was to keep it fresh with an ‘all hands on deck’ approach creating simple, one colour prints with a 160gm local sourced fabric base to be stitched in a local factory with our unique fit. Since the t-shirts are printed by us we ensured no mass production and no two t-shirts being the exact same.

2. How and why did you choose that name for your brand? Is there a story behind it?

The name was created from the love of denim. Dirty Indigo denim is just the way forward in our opinion and will always stand the test of time. We feel Durban is known for being a city of denim; it’s simply worn every day.

4. What inspires you to create, design or innovate?

A simple passion for fashion, design and the city of Durban.

5. What is unique, conceptual or interesting about Dirty Indigo?

Dirty Indigo is unique because it's all about Durban and our quality of the fabric and our prints we use sets it apart from the rest. Our prints are highly trendy and encompass an element of vintage which makes them special. Our packaging too is unique and edgy, reminiscent of those late nights and after hour’s mission for a Johnnies Roti.

6. How long have you been with I Heart Market and what do you enjoy most about it?

We have been with I Heart Market from August 2012 and it’s simple, we love the atmosphere and the trendy people that are there every month. You guys are rock stars.

7. How has Durban and living in Durban influenced your creativity?

It has inspired us to create a new fashion brand, DIRTY INDIGO . A brand that is local and creative and celebrates design and quality fashion merchandise.

Connect with Dirty Indigo for more trendy designs.

Pages

23.4.13

Whole lot of Dirty...

11.4.13

Locally tailored

26.2.13

Have you heard?

21.2.13

Sweet dreams