Tie Dye Dan
Hi! My name is Tie Dye Dan (or Daniel Lambert if you'd prefer not to use aliases) and I am from Yorktown, VA. I created Tie Dye Dan as an alternative to my mindless summer job, and then turned it into Dye Happy which then became my pursuit of happiness. 
Dan • The Early Years
My Mom, the artist, was always pushing me to do something artistic to keep me out of trouble. Funnily enough, I picked tie dye... because of the trouble I liked to cause! It seemed easy, I could make a mess AND I could make Mom happy.
I quickly got into it and started making and wearing tie dye. I liked the idea of selling it, but I was a lazy teenager. When friends asked I'd just say, "No." I bet Mom wished I just said, "No." to other things instead... Whoopsies!
Tie Dye Dan • The Beginning
In the Summer of 2016 while working a double split shift at Chipotle, I heard Dr. Peter Venkman's words in my head:
"someone with your qualifications would have no trouble finding a top-flight job in either the food service or housekeeping industries."
I quickly quit Chipotle and start making, wearing and selling tie dye like my life depended on it. I became Tie Dye Dan.
Dye Happy • The Beginning
The following Spring I realized that I didn't have any unique branding on the tie dyes I made to let people know where the shirt came from... With that in mind, I bought a heat press and used it to apply the first Dye Happy logo to my tie dye. It turned out to be the best decision I ever made!
That Summer Harrisonburg Farmer’s Market accepted me as a vendor. They said a local non-farmer vendor with some color and energy was a great idea.
That Fall I was featured in the JMU student newspaper, "The Breeze" with the headline: "Student known as Tie-Dye Dan gains popularity" and then in the Virginia Journal, Tie-Dye Dan Transformed His Hobby Into An International Business.
Dye Happy and Kendama
Battle at the Border 2018 accepted me as a vendor and my good friend Chad Covington waived the vendor fee in exchange for me making the event shirts.
Insane! My first kendama event and I'm making the event shirts and competing and some of the best Kendama players in the world become my Dye Happy Family
Dan • The Entrepreneur
My fellow JMU Society of Entrepreneurs (SOE) member Chris Ashley helped me setup this website and urged me to apply for JMU's Venture Accelerator.
That Summer JMU paid me to develop my business and accumulate knowledge. Later, my association with the program got me a meeting at Life is Good, the company that I aspired to emulate!
That was totally insane! I was fortunate enough to meet Life is Good founders, Bert and John Jacobs. They imparted much wisdom including "If you think this is going to be easy or quick, do something else".
In the Spring of 2019 I started applying to arts and craft festivals as well as music events. Now I spend my weekends out of town building the brand. Life's an adventure.
