While not exactly "bright" in the sense of British Redcoats or their like, the Federal army during the American Civil War wore coats of a deep blue hue identified as "indigo dyed"-- quoting the Columbia Rifles Resource Compendium:

"The color was achieved by using the famous indigo dyestuff... many other factors will effect the final color: the age of the dye liquor, temperature, even the material the dye pot is made of."

The text goes on to note that even in the period, the differences in the dye lots left a distinctly non-uniform look to the colors, and that surviving examples faded in differing ways over time, "...most being a shade of dark, rich blue."

Risking the banhammer by sharing a personal experience as a living historian dealing with these coats, I have seen the effect described in authentically made reproductions-- from the not-insubstantial variance in the dyed colors in fresh clothing, to the rather extreme variance in colors they fade to in only a few years in the sun.

Short form: It wasn't really a quality issue so much as simply the technology of the time.

Source: The wonderful Columbia Rifles Research Compendium, Ed. John Tobey, (c) 2006, Published by The Watchdog Quarterly.

You might be interested in a past post on a related topic topic:

• What were military uniforms like during the Crimean War?
  ^(12 Jun 2013 | 3 comments)
  ^(/u/vonstroheims_monocle describes the use of and wear and tear of British uniforms during the mid-19^th century.)

• /u/vonstroheims_monocle user profile contains a good amount of recommended reading on 18^th and 19^th European uniforms in general and British uniforms in particular.

You can ask followup questions by posting your questions in the comments with experts tagged to direct questions to them.

As a follow up, what was the benefit of wearing a bright easy to spot uniform?