Is it normal for a new tenugui to smell of dye when first taken out, or for color to bleed when washed?

When you take a new tenugui out of its packaging, you will first notice a distinctive dye smell, and when you first wet it in water, the clear water often turns red or blue. These phenomena are linked to the unique manufacturing method that KAMAWANU has preserved. KAMAWANU's tenugui are made using the CHUSEN technique, a traditional dyeing method developed over 100 years ago^[1]. Chusen is a method where dye is poured onto multiple folded layers of cloth and allowed to pass through downward, a representative traditional technique that penetrates color deep into the yarns. Unlike printing that simply places ink on the outer surface with a machine, artisans dye it directly by hand using a generous amount of dye^[2].

In the process of hand-dyeing by pouring an abundant amount of dye, dye components that are not completely bound to the fibers remain on the surface. The dye smell noticed right after opening gradually fades as you take the product out and use it^[3]. In addition, with repeated washing, the remaining excess dye washes out little by little, and the color gradually changes to a softer tone^[4].

Generally, traditionally dyed cotton fabrics can bleed color onto other laundry during the initial washes, so it is safe to rinse them alone in plenty of water. Gently shaking and washing in lukewarm water without using synthetic detergents is sufficient to remove the excess dye from the surface.