The Color of Quality

The Partnership between the world's premier color authority and one of the largest chemical producers proves to be a perfect match.

Custom dyes for fabrics have made a splash in recent years, particularly for one company that has carved a niche in the apparel market. Last year, Carlstadt, N.J.–based Pantone Inc., the global authority on color and professional color standards, announced its partnership with Switzerland-based Clariant International Ltd., one of the world’s largest textile colorant and chemical producers. Forty-year old Pantone—a wholly owned subsidiary of Grand Rapids, Mich.–based X-Rite Inc.—forged the cooperative in order to optimize the consistency of its color spectrum for the worldwide apparel and home fashion industries.

The strategic partnership employs a new formulation called SMART, which stands for Sensible, Manageable, Accessible, Relevant and Tough. The SMART solution aims to deliver fast, precise and technically sound products anywhere in the world. California Apparel News caught up with Laurie Pressman—vice president of fashion, home and interiors for Pantone—to see how the partnership, now more than a year old, is progressing.

CAN: What was the impetus for the collaboration between Pantone and Clariant?LP: One of the key reasons for creating a more formalized relationship with Clariant International was so we could uphold the consistency and accuracy of all 1,925 colors in the Pantone Fashion and Home Color System. Each color is arrived at by a distinctive dyestuff formulation. By consistently using the same dyes from the same dyestuff supplier in creating our color standards, we ensure consistent, reproducible color. Working closely with Clariant, we dyed hundreds of lab dips to develop each color and moved to production only when the dyestuff combination was clearly reproducible across multiple pieces of lab and production equipment. hellip; Each dye recipe selected additionally provides excellent light fastness as well as durability to washing, dry cleaning and wear.

The secondary reason behind the formation of this relationship was Clariant’s ability to provide in-plant color-matching support on a global basis. For those producing product in Asia, for example, there is a local Clariant office that can work with our clients in their native language. Additionally, Pantone and Clariant have created www.matchpantonecolors.com to provide users with starting formulations to match Pantone colors on desired fabrics.

CAN: How has SMART benefited your clients?LP: We can provide the best recipes for shade replication and repeatability. For those who require digital color information, we also offer spectral data for all of the colors in our system. In combination with our Pantone SMART color swatch card, spectral data helps to reduce metamerism [the matching of apparent color of objects with different spectral power distributions] and provides the most accurate standard combination for multiple-vendor production of any product. These features benefit our clients by reducing the lead time in their color-development process by over 50 percent.

CAN: Describe some of the various materials you might work with in the design of a purse. How challenging is color-matching across these textures and materials?LP: The materials used within a purse, for example, could include leather, cotton, silk or nylon or maybe plastic. The key here would be to standardize to one substrate as a starting point and then work with Clariant to come up with the appropriate dyestuff formulation to achieve this same color in all of the different materials used on this purse, as opposed to beginning this process with individual standards in all materials being used in this same color. Color appears differently depending upon the surface to which it is applied. By starting with one color standard and creating the appropriate dye formulations for each material rather than using individual color standards, you [will have] the best chance of achieving the color you are looking for in the least amount of time.

CAN: Pantone was acquired by X-Rite in October 2007. Did that have any effect on the relationship between Pantone and Clariant?LP: No direct effect. What it does do, however, is enforce our comprehensive color solution to the industries we serve.

CAN: What values did Clariant bring to the table? Why are its formulations so superior?LP: The dyestuff technology we are using from Clariant is state-of-the-art. Environmental policies and regulations are not the same in every geographical region. If a color’s recipe contains dyestuffs that cannot be sold due to environmental restrictions, matching the color can be quite a challenge. To ensure that all of the colors in the Pantone Fashion and Home Color System are reproducible, Pantone and Clariant use only globally available, approved dyestuffs to create our dye formulations.

These formulations use dyestuffs that have a high fixation rate, meaning they adhere to the fibers faster than conventional dyes and at lower temperatures. This allows the dye cycles to be shorter, meaning less water and less power is used, which saves money and lessens the impact on the environment. We also have formulations for almost two-thirds of our colors using dyes that meet the Global Organic Textile Standards and qualify for the production of organic cotton. Clariant also tracks the restricted substance lists globally, and the Pantone formulations avoid these substances.

CAN: How has this arrangement benefited Clariant?LP: It has provided them with exposure to our worldwide customer base and the potential for additional revenue for those who choose to utilize the Clariant dyestuff formulation in the production of their product line.

CAN: The partnership was engineered to maximize consistency, quality and communication, in addition to optimizing speed to market. What other benefits have you seen that perhaps were not anticipated?LP: The ability to extend this message out to non-fabric markets, such as leather, so that we can work with Clariant on some of our other product formats and address different industries.