Getting a sneak peek into the upcoming Color of the Year may be as impossible as getting hold of the envelope for Best Picture at the Oscars, and revealing this closely held secret may hold just as severe a consequence: “They would kill me,” said a tight-lipped Laurie Pressman, vice president, fashion home + interiors, Pantone, responding to pleas for that information at a recent Design and Color Seminar organized by Lectra at Parsons The New School of Design. (In case you’re curious, the 2011 Color of the Year is Honeysuckle.)

 

The seminar, which brought together a panel of industry experts from major apparel retailers such as The Limited Brands, Walmart and JCPenney, representatives from Lectra and Pantone, 24 Seven and [TC]2 as well as educators in fashion and design, focused on both the importance of identifying crucial trends and drivers of color in design as well as the challenging task of achieving accuracy and speed in bringing those colors to the marketplace.

 

Pressman kicked off the event by providing some insight into what’s hot currently in colors and trends and what we can expect for Autumn/Winter 2012/2013, whose theme is “refocus.” “[It’s] a concept that tells us we need to address the different challenges we face with a new mindset and a new approach if we are to succeed. Refocusing is not only necessary in the colors we use but also in our practices, to ensure that we continue to look for fresh and innovative solutions so that we can deliver what the consumer is looking for,” she said. 

 

Identifying those colors that match the times and the mood of the consumer is where it all starts, but bringing those colors to market poses an altogether different set of challenges. As anyone who has worked to bring a color from concept to consumer can attest, getting from a designer’s chosen color through an arduous lab dip process that shows a mill to be able to reproduce that color reliably and repeatedly, to accurate fabric-roll production, has historically been a tedious and expensive process. Some colors in particular are extremely difficult to produce — on fabric and often in print as well — and always pose a challenge. Several panelists flogged the usual suspects — whites, turquoise and neons — for the difficulties they cause, but acknowledged much progress overall in color technology.

 

For example, recent years have seen improvements via digital technology solutions that help eliminate some lab dip iterations and much of the physical sending of “submits” back and forth from design departments to offshore production houses, but during this seminar, Keith Hoover, JCPenney’s director of quality and testing, who has for years been advocating for the elimination of the lab dip altogether, shared how the retailer has accomplished this goal.

 

“Color is one of the longest processes [in design and development],” said Hoover, noting that in looking to restrict that process and improve its ability to move fashion to market faster by moving away from the lab-dip process, JCPenney first performed thorough reviews of the processing capabilities of top mills to determine if they could produce a color consistently. These high-caliber mills were being put through expensive and time-consuming but unnecessary lab-dip processes, says Hoover, driven by “crazy practices” of retailers and by designers that were rejecting lab dips for a variety of reasons that had nothing to do with the accuracy of the color. Having adapted well to the pressures from retailers, one mill Hoover works with, he noted, had “bragged about its ability to produce 3,000 lab dips a day. That’s 17½ acres of fabric a year. That’s wasted energy.”

 

Still, there does have to be a way to approve color even if you trust a mill. What finally made the restructuring of its color approval process possible was that JCPenney “figured out a way to pull [color] data (spectral readings taken as common practice in color production) from the quality control data post to a data center. We can see every order of current production in real time,” says Hoover.

 

In acknowledging the huge accomplishment of eliminating lab dips, Mike Fralix, president of [TC]2, noted that fabric dyeing is still a very physical and resource-intensive process and raised the issue of moving even further toward a digital supply chain by converting from mill dyeing to entirely digital processes. This would not only eliminate a huge number of inputs — almost 80 percent of the water and chemicals involved in apparel production are used during the traditional dyeing process, he says — but would also free up retailers to design much closer to market.

 

While restrictions on technology remain, digital technology has advanced significantly, says Fralix, who thinks we’re about three to five years out from seeing significantly greater adoption of the technology, noting developing technology in the area of color films that can be applied at very high speeds, on demand, as well as fabric performance features such as wrinkle resistance and odor absorption that can also be applied in this fashion. “We are moving toward a world where we can apply these things digitally,” said Fralix.

 

Lectra’s senior consultant for design and color workflows Don Beck remarked on the improvement and development in ink-jet technology software and hardware primarily for application to CAD. “There is a lot of better quality control from printer to printer and a broadening of the color gamut,” he said. Beck noted improvement in ink-jet printer technology, lower prices, and advances such as pigment inks that after being digitally applied are colorfast and permanent after about an hour.

 

In discussing the elimination of wasteful processes, Fralix also mentioned some of the nanoparticle-sized pigment-based colorants available that don’t require PFP pre-chemical treatment, and that can be fixed with heat rather than acid or reactive finishes, although acknowledging that they are available in a limited color gamut. To the question he posed to retailers on the panel — “Are any of you willing to accept the challenge that if you can’t apply a color in a sustainable way, you would be willing to be limited in color choice?” — the answer was, generally speaking, “no.”

 

“We can’t just say [to our designers], ‘No, you can’t have these colors.’ Design is always pushing us and we’re pushing our regional partners to develop fabrics [that are more environmentally sensitive],” said Walmart’s senior color and trend design manager, Priscilla Ghaznavi.

 

Fralix posited that if there were suddenly a law about using these more sustainable inputs, “there would be more rapid development in getting more [pigment-based] colors.”

 

James Mendolia, who directs the AAS Fashion Marketing program at Parsons The New School for Design, weighed in by noting that students are increasingly interested in issues of sustainability and that Parsons offers courses in this area of study that focus on rethinking methods of textile dyeing and manufacturing. “As part of our teaching efforts, we encourage students to challenge the design and textile world to increase sustainable and environmental practices throughout the design process. Learning about the basics of textile materials and dyeing methods and how they relate to color is a good place to start.”

 

The panel also discussed how to design with color when producing on multiple substrates and in multiple locations, with solutions ranging from creating a thorough library of possible color production specifications ahead of time to implementing a process whereby designers work very closely with suppliers to ensure that all questions are answered as the design process progresses. It’s important in making decisions, says Walmart’s Ghaznavi, to work out the details ahead of time and make sure when necessary to find options that “won’t jeopardize the aesthetic of the brand.”

 

As for that color of the year, and how it’s determined, Pressman did say this: “It’s a challenge. How do you come up with a shade that’s good for men, women, hard goods, soft goods, dishes, dresses — across industries? In all these years of doing this, for the most part it’s a happy color — we stay positive. The color for 2012 is fun.”

 

Jordan K. Speer is editor in chief of Apparel. She can be reached at jspeer@apparelmag.com.