made royal purple available to the masses in 1857.
Many original 19th-century garments that have by now faded to a brittle brown were originally in the lush purple-to-pink range offered by mauveine dye. Reenactors will find this shade -- here replicated with modern fabric-printing inks -- especially useful for dressing fashionably in the turn-of-the-decades period from the late 1850s to early 1860s ... but honestly, it's just a lovely color regardless of the purpose!