Inside Outdoor Winter 2018

Inside Outdoor | Winter 2018 18 Faced with costs and tight mar- gins, garment manufacturers often accept lots of dyed fabrics that barely achieve an acceptable or marginal tolerances. This is further compli- cated by a color phenomenon called metamerism. It occurs when two col- ored samples look acceptably close to each other in one light source and unacceptably different versus each other when the light source is changed. For example, an office lighting setting versus natural day- light setting outside. If two fabrics from different suppli- ers that are marginal in meeting the acceptable tolerance to a standard but are opposite of each other in hue, or have a significant amount of me- tamerism versus each other, you po- tentially could have a color difference problem at the garment level that is very hard to address. At that point, the only way to ad- dress the issue at the brand level is by accepting or rejecting lots of fabric before garments are produced or by rejecting finished garments. Both of these measures add time and costs, more than any reasonable sourcing manager would accept. Quality suffers, profitability falls, consumers complain and a brand’s reputation takes a hit. It’s not an issue of staying on trend with the latest hue of blue, green or red but failing to deliver a basic, consistent black. A Retailer’s Conundrum Is it really a problem? Comparing single pieces in a specialty store dis- play may not reveal the breadth of the inconsistency. But examine thousands of units across a brand’s product line and the variances can be significant. Asking an outdoor specialty retail sales person to explain the discrep- ancy in black colors when matching a brand’s $400 technical shell and corresponding $350 pant leads to an awkward sales pitch. Expand the scope to include application-specific purchases for mountaineering, back- country skiing, snowshoeing or winter camping and the result is a broader base of consumers willing to spend top dollar on technical gear with an expectation that colors match. A lack of consistent color is a hard problem for a service-oriented retailer to ad- dress. Options are limited to sorting through inventory for a better match, refunding money or losing the sale. A NewWay ofThinking There’s no question the problem exists. Solutions to date have fallen short. The current approach relies on suppliers who aren’t willing to share their formulas and processes. Yes, there is cause for concern. Rather than worry, it’s time for a new way of thinking. The e.dye Waterless Color System uses a proven process known as solu- tion dyeing. By adding the color before the polymer are extruded, the color is inside the yarn. Since the color is in- side the yarn, the color is permanent. The colors won’t fade or bleed. By using exactly the same colorant recipe to produce yarns that go into different fabric types, e-dye can deliver yarn with exactly the same color, de- fined by exactly the same reflectance curve, thereby eliminating issues stem- ming from metamerism, and lot-to-lot inconsisteny. The e-dye approach to color management delivers the best quality fabrics in the least amount of time, assuring the sourcing manager that they have delivered a quality con- sistent product on budget. e-dye’s Innovation Center in Kun- shan, China, has created detailed production-ready formulas for more than 3,800 vibrant colors, including black. The e-dye master batch recipe is mathematically derived from pigment and dyestuff formulas and is based on critical machine and material parame- ters. e-dye has personnel that are best- in-class, coupled with methods and processes that produce the exact color time after time – from color approvals to prototypes, through salesman samples and from one bulk order to the next. For years, the outdoor industry has searched for a way to create consistent, replicable formulas to produce basic black technical fabrics. e-dye’s Smart Black offers a solution to that dilemma. e-dye’s Waterless Color System has created detailed formulas for more than 3,800 vibrant colors. By adding the color before the polymers are extruded, the color is inside the yarn. Since the color is inside the yarn, the color is permanent, so colors won’t fade or bleed on to adjacent colors.