After meeting at this year’s Week of Welcome (WOW), two students realized they both had unique talents that could mesh together to create something even better.
Business junior Tyler Boylan and sociology junior Emma Veach formed a business selling hand-crafted tie-dye garments.
“Our brand is called Eye’d Dye 4 U,” Veach said.
Veach said she had tie-dyed for years before she transferred to Cal Poly, while Boylan has spent his time perfecting both his screen printing and embroidery skills. Once realizing they had a common passion for creating artistic clothing, they decided to collaborate.
The pair finds new and old clothing, from thrifted denim garments to brand new t-shirts. From there, Veach tie dyes the fabric, and Boylan follows with embroidery and screen printed designs to create one-of-a-kind pieces.
This duo’s company has come a long way since WOW, but they still consider it a side job. Boylan currently works at a cafe in downtown San Luis Obispo, a job he said he hopes to eventually leave to put more effort into Eye’d Dye 4 U.
“It’s my favorite thing to do in my free time,” Veach said. “It would be really nice to be able to do this all the time instead of having a job.”
Boylan promotes Eye’d Dye 4 U on his personal embroidery Instagram account, @t_tees_embroidery. Soon, the pair hopes to start an Etsy page to continue selling their work.
“We are planning on creating similar tie dye patterns on a bunch of pieces, and then letting the customer pick which design they want either embroidered or screen printed onto the shirt,” Boylan said.
The pair’s first big debut as a company was at the Associate Students, Inc. Fall Craft Fair Nov. 18-20. According to Veach, they sold significantly more items than expected.
Although the team wants to make enough money to solely work for their brand, they said they believe in setting affordable prices for their clothing, as long as their hard work is paid for. The price depends on the product, averaging $20 for t-shirts and $40 for jackets.
Boylan and Veach’s next plan during their artistic journey is to create an interactive website to cater to customer’s unique needs.
The duo will also bring their pieces to the Spring Craft Fair, which will take place May 4-6.