| Lewiston Morning Tribune, June 22, 1999.
"NOT JUST FOR WOODSTOCK ANYMORE"
Moscow business will tye-dye virtually any item of clothing a customer desires
By Erin Walter of the Tribune
Moscow - The store is called Tye Dye Everthing - and owner Arlene Falcon means everything.
Psychedelically spiraled baby bonnets, hair scrunchies and thong underwear have joined the more commonplace tie-dyed T-shirts in Falcon's new store behind Mikey's Gyros on Moscow's Main Street.
But Falcon hasn't stopped there. "I dyed a whole elk hide," she says proudly.
Falcon dyed the six-foot hide in bright primary colors for a Portland craftsman who used the pelt to make drum heads. She also helped a young Jewish boy be the hippest kid to celebrate his barmitzvah by creating his custom ordered tye-dye yarmulkes.
"I sell them to all my Jewish friends," she says, placing a colorful skullcap on her head.
Tuesday, the native New Yorker was starting some T-shirts in her 24-by-24 foot store, which opened this week.
The spidery red, orange, yellow and black print shirts are for a race car driver in Spokane.
Falcon opened her kaleidoscopic enterprise in St. Maries in 1991 after seeing how ell her tie-dyed shirts sold at a 1987 Woodstock anniversary party in Spokane.
Although she moved retail for Tye Dye Everything to Moscow's Sixth Street this fall, Falcon wanted to combine retail and production in the new Main Street store.
"When we saw the hookup for sinks, we knew it was the perfect place,"
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she says about the small store. She also has added a natural gas washer and dryer and two part-time employees.
Each tie-dyed garmet takes about 10 minutes to fold and dye, using dyes chosen from dozens of colorful squirt bottles. The clothes then sit overnight and are washed the next morning to set the color.
"I sell a lot of rainbow spirals and I'm partial to purples," she said of her inventory.
But Falcon will custom-dye any color.
Although tie dye first emerged as a groovy clothing style in the 1960's, its bright colors have endured through three decades.
"It's a celebration of life and joy of color; it's not just an expression of the 1960's."
With outdoor festivals, craft fairs and farmers markets, summer is boom time for a tie-dye business, Falcon says.
On May 6, Falcon's car and about $10,000 worth of dyed duds were lost in a fire that started while she was driving to a craft fair in Walla Walla. But she's bounced back and will be at Spokane's Hoopfest this weekend.
When she's not traveling to more than 15 events annually, she sets up shop at the Moscow farmers market on Saturdays during the summer.
Summer specialties include bright halter tops, bikinis and sundresses. Baby clothes, such as one-piece rompers and socks, are popular year round. Falcon's clothes range in price from $3.50 for baby socks and scrunchies to $17 for T-shirts and $50 for rayon sundresses.
She will custom dye items brought into the store, but says 100 percent cotton produces the most vibrant hues.
Tye Dye Everything is open from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, but her clothes are also on sale at the Main Street store Northwest Showcase, which is open weekends.
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