Kean Etro's Cooked Shirt

Kean Etro, a designer noted for his use of colour in the exploration of patterns, has developed a unique natural colouring process for shirts for his new capsule mens collection. Kean Etro is passionate about natural practices, eco awareness and cooking, and decided to combine the two to create this cooked shirt collection.

Taking natural dye techniques to the next level, there are three shirts in the Harvest Style collection, one made using coffee, one with blueberries and one with salt, all producing unique, natural colouration. This capsule collection is in keeping with the organic theme of the men's A/W 08 show, where models walked down a dirty catwalk set in a vegetable garden. Here is how you can revive an old white shirt for the summer.

Shirt baked in the oven with blueberries
Ingredients: 1 white 100% cotton Etro shirt, 900 gr. blueberries, 400 gr. granulated sugar, 300 ml. blueberry juice
Preparation: In an ovenproof baking dish, form a layer of blueberries with 200 gr. of sugar. Pour 150 ml. of blueberry juice over the bottom layer of berries and sugar. Fold the white Etro shirt as you normally do (to put it away in a drawer) and place it on top of the blueberry layer in the baking dish. Cover the shirt with a layer of blueberries and remaining sugar. Pour the remaining blueberry juice over the shirt and berries. Bake in a preheated oven at a temperature of 170° C (approx. 330 F) for about 40 minutes. Afterwards, remove the baking dish from the oven. Remove the shirt from the baking dish. Remove all the berries, sugar, and juice from the shirt. Hang the shirt on a hanger to let it cool.

Shirt cooked in salt
Ingredients: 1 white 100% cotton Etro shirt, 6 kg. coarse cooking salt. 
Preparation: Pour coarse cooking salt into an ovenproof baking dish to form a 1 cm. thick layer. Fold the white Etro shirt as you normally do (to put it away in a drawer) and place it on top of the salt layer in the baking dish. Completely cover the shirt with coarse cooking salt. Bake in the oven at a temperature of 180° C (approx. 350° F) for about 40 minutes. Afterwards, remove the baking dish from the oven. Remove all the salt from the shirt and carefully hang the shirt on a hanger to let it cool.

Shirt dipped in coffee
Ingredients: 1 white 100% cotton Etro shirt, 900 gr. coffee
Preparation: Grind the coffee and prepare 6 litres of coffee (about 20 six-cup coffee pots). Pour the coffee in a large glass bowl. Take the white Etro shirt and completely submerge it in the coffee in the glass bowl. Let the shirt soak for approximately 8 hours (make sure the shirt is completely covered by the coffee). After 8 hours, remove the shirt from the glass bowl and hang it to dry.