Why was purple dye so rare historically?

Question

I know natural purple itself was difficult to obtain, but why didn’t they just mix red and blue? Were those also rare? Did it just not work?

In: Other

Answer 1

Tyrian Purple dye historically could only be made by crushing the Murex snail. These snails were fairly rare and it was a disgusting and laborious process.

Since it was rare and expensive purple dye was associated with royalty and wealth.

Ancient people did mix colors and could mix red and blue to make purple, but the mixed dye ran and faded, while the Murex purple was a much richer color.

So using a mixed dye was like wearing fake designer clothing today, you can tell.