Blue is the New black. Susie Breuer
of clothing, such as a jacket or a skirt, and an option is a colour way, wash or finish of a style. So, for instance, if a jacket is made in three colours, it is one style in three options.
COLOUR CARDS
Most fabric mills and yarn suppliers have colour cards for their products, which the fabric mill collates for each fabric and yarn reference, and is based on trend predictions and their own history of sales. Some colours, such as black, navy, ivory and grey, sell consistently well season on season, so these will always be on the shade card. Trend or seasonal colours, on the other hand, like yellow, green or pink would be seen as the ‘seasonal’ highlight colours of the fabric collection, and would be relevant for the season, but would be changed six months later. With the mills and the designers working from similar trends, their colour ideas often match. When the designer and developer begin the selecting colours, they try, wherever possible, to select from the mill’s card, as this is a cheaper and quicker approach. If the desired colour is not available, the developer will ask the fabric mill to make a ‘lab dip’ of the brand’s colour, but on the mill’s fabric.
LAB DIPS
The process of lab dipping is more time consuming and more expensive, but ensures that the shade the designer selects remains consistent throughout the collection. It is a process that happens at both the development stage and production stage, whereby a colour lab (which works with the fabric mill) makes up the designer’s shade in a chosen fabric by mixing a series of basic dyes. They then submit an offer to the designer in three or more versions of the colour, including one that is closest to what the designer originally wanted. In some cases the designer will give some comments and direction to improve the colour. The lab notes these comments, the colour mixture is changed and new lab dips are submitted. This process continues until the designer gives the final approval.
HANDLOOMS
If the designer likes a fabric design but wants to change some of the colours of the weave, they request a ‘handloom’ to see before committing to the final fabric. A handloom is a small swatch of fabric made up on a handloom by the factory to show a particular design. It is also very common for designers to request their own handlooms from the fabric mill with their own designs. They may take colours from the fabric mill’s colour card, but ask for a checked or striped fabric to the brand’s design to be created. This makes the design more distinctive and tailored to the brand’s own collection, but can be expensive for the mills.
FABRIC LEAD TIMES
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