In the apocalypse, no one washes their clothes. They’ve got more important things to worry about. Like how to keep the zombie hoard from chewing on your face, or how to keep your 12″ mohawk up when there is no more gel.
Today we will learn a method of making clothes look super dirty and worn. You can also use this method to turn new jeans into old looking jeans, and then flip them for a huge profit, like Nordstroms
Today I did a pair of pants for Braxton, and a jacket for me. First step was to find a pair of pants, preferably cargo pants (you’ll need lots of pockets if you want to survive) at a thrift store, and I got the jacket from Wish. It’s a website/app where you can buy stuff directly from China. The upside is it’s super cheap. The downside is that it takes a long time to get here, the sizes are always off, and it’s never as good as it looks in the picture.
In the picture it looked like it was a canvas material. Turns out it’s really crappy polyester. It’s fine since it’s just for a costume, but if this were the real apocalypse… I shudder to think of my fate. Before I could do anything, I had to cut off these stupid cuffs. +10 points for effort, China, but I’m gonna call this one a fail.
Anyways. First step is to rough them up. They will need nicks, cuts, etc. to sell it. I used the edge of a serrated pocket knife to get the job done.
Spend extra time wearing the spots where it would naturally be worn, like down by the heels, on the knees, by the pockets, ect. Then I put in an actual cut so that I could so it up.
The fact that my sewing is terrible really helps to sell the effect.
Now that this is all sewn up, this boy is ready for the dirt. I repeated this with my jacket.
The first step is to put on some gloves and dip my hands in black paint. Then I kida scrunch up the pants and get a little paint on there, gently so it doesn’t really build up. just a little here and there.
Then- you know it- I rubbed some dirt on it. The dirt will stick to where the paint is. You can see that jar there with the white powder- that’s cocaine. But I also have another jar that is not picture that is diatomaceous earth. Any white powder will do. I sprinkle some of that here and there to give it some highlights.
Once that is all done, I hit it with some matte clear coat, which helps trap the dirt in there, so it doesn’t just fly out when you dust off your pants.
Here’s a before and after on these pants.
Here’s some pants for me and for Raegan that I did.
So it’s a pretty cool technique, one that I can’t take credit for myself. I learned this one from Nuclear Snail, a really cool Youtube channel all about Post-Apoc costplay. Check it out.
Fampocalypse 