What’s important to know about Feasibility?
Digital color enables faster processes, but the crucial parts remain: mill capabilities and color feasibility. While natific addresses both of these pieces, today we’re talking about feasibility.
When a designer chooses a palette for an upcoming collection, they choose colors and materials that inspire them and that will appeal to their audience. The colors are then sent to suppliers to determine if they can be matched under the specified quality requirements.
Depending on the color and material, sometimes this is an impossible task for the supplier. Some colors are simply not achievable under certain parameters.
That means back to the drawing board for design, or compromising on a different shade or material. This back and forth can take weeks.
Most brands would rather use that time for other priorities, but they don’t know how to avoid feasibility issues.
What’s the solution? Finding out color feasibility up front, before sending requests to suppliers, is one great way to get ahead of future issues and wasted time. Knowledge is the other solution.
Being aware these essential facts will help you and your team select feasible colors:
Whether or not a color is feasible depends greatly on the fabric and yarn being used. Fluorescent colors are not feasible on cellulosics, for example. Bright shades cannot always be reproduced. If a yarn is semi or full dull, these colors will not be feasible.
Fiber fineness is another decisive factor in feasibility. A fabric with low fineness, especially microfiber, the lower the washing and light fastness levels, as well as the yield of shade. You will need 20-30% more dyestuff to achieve the same depth as other fibers, which affects overall fastness level as well.
The dyeing process the mill uses affects color feasibility. This is especially crucial for continuous dyeing applications. If one is doing a Pad-Thermosol or a Pad-Steam process, no dark shades will be possible. Processes like Pad-Batch or Pad-Dry-Steam are also limited in their yield. If a fabric with low weight per running meter is dyed, there are limitations in depth due to the low pick-up of dyestuff!
The gloss of a fabric has a big influence on color feasibility. When Nylon fabric is calendared, for example, there is a significant loss in yield. Certain heavy shades may not be feasible.
The higher the amount of Spandex, the lower the expectations on washing, rubbing, and perspiration fastness levels. You will need approximately 5-10% more dyestuff to achieve the same depth of a heavy shade vs. a fabric with no spandex.
These are just a few examples of the essential points to understand about feasibility. It is important to consider all conditions when analyzing the feasibility of a shade.
Contact natific to learn more about feasibility and custom feasibility reporting.