After attending a street fair in Anchorage in her early 20s, Jen Luton “immediately became obsessed” with tie-dye.
“I have always been attracted to creative endeavors, not necessarily good at all of them,” Luton said. “When I tried tie-dye for the first time — not that I was good at that either — it was something that really clicked with me … I started going to the thrift stores and buying stuff and dying it, and I would end up taking it back to the thrift store because I had given all of it away that I could.”
Based in Sterling, Luton has been making tie dye creations since 2008. After a few years, she decided she needed to either stop or go all in. At the time, her uncle owned a business in Alaska and gave her the boost that she needed.
“He said, ‘How much do you think you need to get started?’ And I said, ‘Maybe $1,000.’ And he said, ‘I’m putting in an order right now for $1,000.’ He really helped kick-start me and get me started.”
She eventually began vending at farmers markets on the Kenai Peninsula under the name AK Tie Dye. All of AK Tie Dye’s pieces now come from Royal Apparel in New York, which is American made. Her booth consistently carries a variety of colorful bamboo socks, yoga pants, bandanas, stash bags and more.
Luton said she initially felt intimidated when she first set up at the farmer’s market in Homer, but says she had instant support from her fellow vendors.
“It made me realize, ‘Wow, these are really my kind of people,'” she said. “They weren’t necessarily the normies that were doing their regular life. They all had some kind of thing they were chasing and a passion, and they were willing to live differently in order to chase it.”
Working markets and being a vendor can be really unreliable at times, she said.
“You’re at the whim of weather and event organizers … you kind of never know what you’re getting into, so you have to be really brave to live like that,” she said.
Luton’s holiday schedule includes the Kennedy Catholic High School Craft Fair in Kenai on Nov. 29 and 30, the Girdwood School Craft Fair on Dec. 7, Wonderfully Made in Anchorage on Dec. 13 and 14, and Cynosure Brewing in Anchorage on Dec. 15. She is also teaching a Tea Towel Workshop in Anchorage on Dec. 15.
Sam Davenport is a writer residing in Anchorage. She's a leo and a plant-person, and loves spending quality time with her dog, Aspen. She is a Real Housewives fan and has been called a Bravo historian.
