Best Practices In Apparel Color Communication
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How can you ensure that your color needs are communicated properly during the apparel development process? This presentation covers how to optimize your color matching process by using best practices in apparel color communication. If you like this presentation, you can find other information on this topic and related topics at www.technicaltextilesolutions.com.
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Best Practices In Apparel Color Communication
- 1. Best Practices in Apparel Color Communication April 11, 2013 AATCC IC 2013, Greenville, SC Michelle Roberts, Technical Textile Solutions
- 2. Technical Textile Solutions • Process Review & Improvement • Team Coaching • Supplier Coaching • Color Approval On-Site
- 3. Color Standards Color Approval Building Blocks Color Equipment Design Color Team Communi- cation • 4 building blocks work together • Color equipment is just one part • Execution is key to success
- 4. Start-to-Finish Optimization Color Team Process Execution Color Standard Communication Color in Design Phase
- 5. Color in Design Phase • Random Fabric as Standard • Too Many Critical Colors • Incomplete Artwork Reference Numbers • Artwork File Resolution
- 6. Example • 17 colors in this print • Is every color critical?
- 7. Color in Design Phase • Random Fabric as Standard • Too Many Critical Colors • Incomplete Artwork Reference Numbers • Artwork File Resolution
- 8. S1 Example #1 • PES= S15AB243 • Silk= S15AB243 Example #2 • PES= S15PESAB243 • Silk= S15SIAB243
- 9. Start-to-Finish Optimization Color Team Process Execution Color Standard Communication Color in Design Phase
- 10. Color Standard Communication • Call Out Engineered Standards • Call Out Real Standards • Don’t Allow Cut Standards
- 11. Start-to-Finish Optimization Color Team Process Execution Color Standard Communication Color in Design Phase
- 12. Color Team Process Execution • Use Proper Commenting Terminology • Review Previous Rounds as Guide • Get Comfortable with Gray Area • Call the Dyer at Your Desk
- 13. Start-to-Finish Optimization • Efficiency in Design Phase • Color Standard Clarity • Color Team Process Execution
- 14. Helping you save time and money, because life’s too short to have a coronary making someone else’s play clothes. www.technicaltextilesolutions.com
Notas do Editor
- Hello, thank you for your time, it is an honor to be here with my colleagues in the textile and apparel industry. As you know, I’m here to talk with you today about Apparel color matching. And I’ll start off by asking a question- A rhetorical question- if I were to ask you how many of your careers are focused on color approvals, I’d get a good show of hands, I’m sure. Now, if I asked how many of your jobs, careers,businesses, were impacted by the time it takes to achieve color approval, especially if it takes a long time, I’m sure hands would go up all over the room.The Color approval process is a crucial part of the apparel commercialization timeline, and in my work in the industry, I’ve helped various companies achieve color approval faster. In doing that, I’ve uncovered some very basic operational mistakes and inefficiencies that can make the color approval process take much longer than it needs to.
- I work with clients hands on. I coach apparel brand teams and their suppliers to work smarter to achieve their tight commercialization timelines. I see these inefficiencies, and in the course of working with them on-site and with their suppliers, I see how the pain points in their process bring about inefficiencies in the process that are unique to them. And we fix those. But I also see the inefficiencies that are not unique to them. These are inefficiencies that are more or less common to most if not all clients I work with. And these inefficiencies are present on color teams that have purchased color equipment and have a full color accreditation process, and those who don’t. Color matching equipment such as lightboxes, spectrophotometers, and calibrated monitors do improve the color matching process, but they are no magic pill. There are still key operational best practices that must be in place or you will not optimize your investment.So why should you all care about this? What does it have to do with you? Well, I’ll tell you. Perhaps you were the person who signed the check for the color matching equipment in the first place, or maybe you are managing the team who is responsible for making this equipment solve all your problems. If you are related or impacted by color approval at all, you’ll want to pay attention to the areas we cover here in the color approval process that can speed things up when they are working right, and those that can make color approval a painful process when they don’t.
- So why should you all care about this? What does it have to do with you? Well, I’ll tell you. Perhaps you were the person who signed the check for the color matching equipment in the first place, or maybe you are managing the team who is responsible for making this equipment solve all your problems. Maybe you are new or relatively new in your position and you’re looking to get some quick wins under your belt. If you are related or impacted by color approval at all, you’ll want to pay attention to the areas we cover here in the color approval process that can speed things up when they are working right, and those that can make color approval a painful process when they don’t. You can go back to the company you work for, and help make sure your color approval process is working in the most efficient way possible.Color equipment is a key part of your color matching process, and I am an advocate of those systems, but having a spectro or a color accreditation process is only part of healthy color matching process. The way I see it, an optimized design process, proper color standard creation and set up, along with efficient color team communication are all as important as your color matching equipment. So to see the full picture of what optimized color matching looks like, you really have to look at all these building blocks working together to push you toward your goal.
- The way that color is addressed in the design phase of apparel commercialization is often the first place that we can set ourselves up success or failure. The 1st area in design we’ll address is the random fabric as a standardsIt is done because design wants that exact color and feels like they cant wait for color matching.If you are a color team, you have to fight this as hard as you can. You will eventually receive a dip that you will probably have to accept as a best- can- do, but only after wasting too much of your energy and your suppliers resources. Color matching effort is a zero-sum game and if your color team is spending their time on that, they aren’t spending it in other places.So, how do you safeguard against this? Do hindsights, and share results with your design teamGood relationships with color standard suppliers so you can check their stock colors immediately Initiate a custom dying with a color service immediately. Too Many Critical Colors-Prints- calling out 16-20 colors as absolutely critical will lead to issues- vendor effort is spread over too many colors. Instead of identifying the 4-5 colors in the print that are absolutely color critical that the supplier can focus their efforts on, every color is called out, which leads to multiple submissions and concessions that have to be made. Calling out colors as critical that aren’t actual colors- if it doesn’t have a color standard, it isn’t a color.
- The way that color is addressed in the design phase of apparel commercialization is often the first place that we can set ourselves up success or failure. The 1st area in design we’ll address is the random fabric as a standardsIt is done because design wants that exact color and feels like they cant wait for color matching.If you are a color team, you have to fight this as hard as you can. You will eventually receive a dip that you will probably have to accept as a best- can- do, but only after wasting too much of your energy and your suppliers resources. Color matching effort is a zero-sum game and if your color team is spending their time on that, they aren’t spending it in other places.So, how do you safeguard against this? Do hindsights, and share results with your design teamGood relationships with color standard suppliers so you can check their stock colors immediately Initiate a custom dying with a color service immediately. Too Many Critical Colors-Prints- calling out 16-20 colors as absolutely critical will lead to issues- vendor effort is spread over too many colors. Instead of identifying the 4-5 colors in the print that are absolutely color critical that the supplier can focus their efforts on, every color is called out, which leads to multiple submissions and concessions that have to be made. Calling out colors as critical that aren’t actual colors- if it doesn’t have a color standard, it isn’t a color.
- To demonstrate the point regarding artwork file names, let’s consider a flower print that will be submitted for approval to the brand in two different fabrics- a polyester satin and a Silk. In example #1, the artwork is only referred to by the artwork number- no mention of composition in the number. This can cause confusion and major issues in the supply chain. If one of the compositions is dropped and the other is not, confusion will ensue if it is not clear which composition/print combo is dropped. In example #2, you can see clearly that both numbers have the same artwork reference number, and composition is clearly included in the number. This type of numbering system reduces confusion in the entire supply chain. Why is this something you should think about? If these types of confusing numbers are being used in your supply chain, you are not being as efficient as you could be, with very little additional effort or money on your part.Another simple area that people can overlook is artwork resolution. Artwork that is mistakenly sent to suppliers in the wrong resolution can cost multiple rounds and a lot of time and money before the mistake is sorted out. I’ve been on site with suppliers who were having issues with a print only to find out that we had mistakenly sent the file at 75 dpi resolution instead of 300 dpi.Why should you worry about this? What happens if you don’t? Most people don’t associate the actions taken early in the design process with what happens down the line in color matching, so you probably have meaningful room for improvement in your own process right now.
- Cutting color standards- cut color standards cannot be measured properly in the spectro, they get dirty with handling, and they get lost. If you see cut color standards anywhere in your supply chain, put a stop to it immediately. If allow any cutting, you allow all cutting, and how small is too small? You don’t want to get in that habit in the first place.Only call out colors that exist- there must be a real color standard associated with every color you expect your vendors to match. 30% darker than Moss can be called out that way in artwork, since that is how many software programs translate color, but those shades must immediately be matched to a real color.
- Cutting color standards- cut color standards cannot be measured properly in the spectro, they get dirty with handling, and they get lost. If you see cut color standards anywhere in your supply chain, put a stop to it immediately. If allow any cutting, you allow all cutting, and how small is too small? You don’t want to get in that habit in the first place. I’ve seen print suppliers half a world away using dirty thumbnails of your color standards to match color to, which leads to a maddening chain of communications because the supplier is using the correct standard, it’s just so dirty that it is giving a poor color match. Only call out colors that exist- there must be a real color standard associated with every color you expect your vendors to match. 30% darker than Moss can be called out that way in artwork, since that is how many software programs translate color, but those shades must immediately be matched to a real color standard before the apparel supply chain attempts to match the color, if the color is color-critical.
- Use proper commenting terminologyX-Rite ClassesDatacolor WebinarsAATCC classesThese classes will serve to increaseReview Previous Rounds as a GuideGet comfortable with the gray area So much of what color matching comes down to is a judgment call. Confidence in your color team’s decision Call the dyer at your desk- you need to have a relationship with the dye lab manager or other technical contact that is good enough that you can pick up the phone and call them when the 2 nd round of lab dips comes in and they aren’t following your comments. Don’t wait for a conference call, or even worse, the dreaded VC. These things take so long to schedule in most companies that your color issues have exploded by the time you’re actually able to book a conference room at a time that accommodates everyone’s schedule. A regular call between a colorist and the technical manager and/or dye lab manager is the best way to make sure both sides see things the same and that the brands needs are being communicated.
- There are opportunities all along the apparel development process for steps to be taken that will ensure you get closer to the right color faster, with minimal monetary investment on your part, and since a lot of you work with color or are impacted by color everyday you’ll want to take note of these areas. These opportunities start in the early design phase, when artwork is created, when file names are set up, then in the color standard communication process, when color standards are set up, and it follows through to the color matching communication methods that your color team uses. So all along the way there are opportunities to help your suppliers provide better color.This will be our outline for the next 25 minutes of our presentation. Let’s start with the first area of opportunity, and that is efficiency in the design phase.While you may not be in a financial position to go out and purchase all new color matching equipment today, you can evaluate your internal processes in the areas that I have called out here today to move you closer to the fastest color approval possible for your company.