Top dyehouse concerns

What are they and how can they be addressed? We asked a dyehouse manager! 

Erol Battal, a dyehouse manager based in Turkey, was kind enough to sit down with color industry pro Janet Best in Frankfurt earlier this year to discuss the challenges his teams have faced in the past and how they have been addressed to execute color more efficiently and accurately. We're happy to share that conversation with you today.

The first challenge Erol described is unknown color feasibility. When a dyehouse receives a request to match a color, they must do their best to achieve it, but all brands will be familiar with the multi-round sampling process. It can take weeks of shipping samples back and forth.

At least, that was the old way.

Click the image below to hear Erol describe how color feasibility reports have transformed the color matching process and dramatically reduced time to approval.

"Before a brand sends out a color, they have a very good idea that the dyehouse will be able to achieve it on multiple levels of performance."

The second dyehouse challenge Erol brough up is knowledge gaps and lack of skills training among dyehouse workers. Many did not have enough training to execute efficient, quality color. That’s another factor in long approval processes.

The solution? Professional training and qualification by natific experts (Click the image to watch the clip):

"We are seeing the results now. It works very well."

Consistent, thorough skills training on industry best practices, combined with up front color feasibility make for fast and efficient color execution. Several of the worlds largest brands, such as Under Armour, Lands’ End, adidas, and more, acknowledge natific certifications and specify them in their supply chains.

In addition to CAP, natific has several certifications and training suited to any level of expertise and role. Over 650 companies and 2000 colorists worldwide hold natific certifications.

There is, however, one more piece to this puzzle…

Janet also asked Erol about communication, which links all of these processes together but is often a bottleneck. Since implementing natific systems and certifications, Erol has noticed a dramatic improvement in communication.

He specifically identified the benefit of having historical data housed in a central location. That way, as personnel change roles, they can look back on previous decisions and how things have been handled in the past.

Here’s Erol describing some of the other ways his team’s workflow has been streamlined and how they monitor performance using natific ASAP – everything from consistent color specifications from the brand, to visibility into who is taking action on submissions, to graphic reporting by color, season, and more.

“All scores we can see on one page with an amazing graphic that’s showing your CAP score, your best-can-do score, your FSRR score, it’s very wonderful.”

To leave you with one final quote to sum it all up, Erol shares a huge win that his team achieved with their brand partners by implementing natific systems and certifications in their supply chain:

Watch the full conversation on YouTube: