Pantone Color Systems - For Textiles

Pantone Color Systems – For Textiles

IF YOU WORK IN FASHION, TEXTILES AND SOFT GOODS, YOU’RE IN THE RIGHT PLACE!

PANTONE IS A GLOBAL LEADER IN COLOR STANDARDS FOR THE FASHION INDUSTRY

Our Fashion, Home + Interiors (FHI) color system centers on the Pantone Swatch Card. In fact, swatch cards are the standard referenced by every other FHI product. Made on double-layered fabric to the most exacting color specifications in the industry, the Pantone Swatch Card has been formulated for color fastness and color constancy. All FHI Swatch Cards are supported by digital spectral data, so you can be confident your final product will match your vision. Swatch cards are available for all our Cotton, Nylon, and Polyester colors. Each material has unique properties, and therefore a uniquely achievable range of colors.

THE PANTONE FHI SYSTEM NOW INCLUDES 3,049 TOTAL COLORS, BROKEN OUT IN THE FOLLOWING WAY:

TOP SELLING TEXTILE PRODUCTS

  1. Fashion, Home + Interiors Color Guide

    FASHION, HOME + INTERIORS COLOR GUIDE

    A two-guide set for hard home and fashion accessories

  2. Fashion, Home + Interiors Color Specifier & Color Guide Set

    FASHION, HOME + INTERIORS COLOR SPECIFIER & COLOR GUIDE SET

    Get inspiration and communicate color, in the office and beyond

  3. Fashion, Home + Interiors Cotton Planner

    FASHION, HOME + INTERIORS COTTON PLANNER

    Keep color within reach, but never in the way

  4. Fashion, Home + Interiors Cotton Passport

    FASHION, HOME + INTERIORS COTTON PASSPORT

    Take your creativity to new places with Pantone Colors on cotton, to go


DIGITAL SOLUTIONS FOR TEXTILES

Pantone Connect

YOUR PANTONE COLORS, EVERYWHERE.

Pantone Connect is a platform that provides designers with access to digital Pantone Colors and helpful color features across mobile, web, and design applications in Adobe® Creative Cloud®.


Pantone Connect helps designers to streamline their color selection, color communication, and design process to improve accuracy and reduce time time/rework. This includes matching physical color samples to Pantone Colors, creating and arranging palettes for design projects, and applying Pantone colors to design files.

LEARN MORE


FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS


1: HOW DO YOU SELECT THE COLORS FOR THE FHI SYSTEM? 

In today’s complex and challenging marketplace, color is often that catalyst that sparks the sale, defines the space, and creates the mood. We select colors for the FHI system based on three important and distinct criteria. First, our global team of color trend forecasters look at the movement of color trends to ensure your palettes are fresh, modern, and relevant. Of course, we also understand the importance of core colors and the integral role they play in building your seasonal color stories. Therefore, we look at the color needs of the industries we serve and those we would like to better impact to ensure a comprehensive set of core and trend shades. Lastly, we only select colors that are easily achievable and reproducible, for greater usability and efficiency.



2: WHAT DO THE NUMBERS MEAN?  

Pantone’s Fashion, Home + Interiors’ numbering system enables precise accuracy on a global scale. Each color has a unique location in the System’s color space, which allows the space to be precisely defined. A six-digit number assigned to each color defines that location:


FHI chip - example

Each pair of digits has a specific meaning:


  • The first pair (16) refers to the lightness or darkness of the color.
  • The second pair (15) specifies the hue – yellow, red, blue, green.
  • The third pair of numbers (46) describes the chroma level of the color.

Using the six-digit PANTONE Fashion, Home + Interiors Color Number, any color can be selected and communicated anywhere in the world.



3: HOW ARE PANTONE TEXTILES PRODUCED?   

Each of the colors contained in the FHI system uses dyestuffs that are globally available, approved, and optimized for color constancy and colorfastness. Our FHI textile system endures a five-step quality process to ensure the accuracy of the color at every stage of production and packing.



4: HOW ARE PANTONE TEXTILES MEASURED?   

Cotton (exception of 11-0601 TCX and 11-4001TCX, which contain optical brighteners):

  1. 1. Instrument Settings
  • Instrument: X-Rite i7860 Spectrophotometer
  • R/T Mode: Reflectance
  • Specular: Included
  • UV Filter Position: UV Excluded (Exception: 11-0601 TCX and 11-4001 TCX are UV Calibrated)
  • Aperture: LAV
  • Number of Measurements: 2 averaged. (One on grain/ One cross-grain)
  • Primary Light Source: D-65
  • Secondary Light Source: F02-10 (CWF)
  • Rapid condition for 15 minutes prior to measurement – Measurement taken within 10 seconds after removal from chamber.

  • 2. Conditioning Chamber Settings
    • Temperature: 21C
    • Humidity: 50%
    • Light source: D-65

  • 3. Visual Assessment for Color and Fabric Quality
    • Pantone Light Booth
    • X-Rite Spectralight

    Nylon & Polyester:


    1. 1. Instrument Settings
    • Instrument: X-Rite i7860 Spectrophotometer
    • R/T Mode: Reflectance
    • Specular: Included
    • UV Filter Position: UV calibrated
    • Aperture: LAV
    • Number of Measurements: 2 averaged. (One on grain/ One cross-grain)
    • Primary Light Source: D-65
    • Secondary Light Source: F02-10 (CWF)
    • Rapid condition for 15 minutes prior to measurement – Measurement taken within 10 seconds after removal from chamber.
  • 2. Conditioning Chamber Settings
    • Temperature: 21C
    • Humidity: 50%
    • Light source: D-65

  • 3. Visual Assessment for Color and Fabric Quality
    • Review your swatch at a 10° angle
    • Make sure your light booth has the proper Munsell N5 or N7 interior color coating
    • Never evaluate color with other visual influences in your light booth aside from what you are reviewing


    5: WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SWATCH CARD AND OTHER FHI PRODUCTS?

    All of the colors contained in our FHI products are color references. The Pantone Swatch Card is the definitive color standard, produced within a 0.5 Delta E tolerance to ensure color consistency. The swatch card is double-layered and un-backed on a non-optically brightened paper card then housed in a sealed, protected pouch to protect the fabric from light and humidity. Only with the Swatch Card can you ensure that your internal teams and production partners understand exact color intent.



    6: CAN THE COLOR GUIDE (TPG) BE USED FOR TEXTILE APPLICATIONS?

    To ensure the closest visual match, we recommend using the material format that is closest to your end use application. We recommend our textile cotton products (TCX) for all fabric applications. Because each material takes color differently, the same color in cotton, plastic, and on lacquered paper can vary slightly.



    7: HOW DOES THE NAMING CONVENTION WORK FOR FHI COLORS? 

    Each FHI system color has a unique name and number, such as in 15-1247 Tangerine. That color is differentiated across materials through a unique suffix. For lacquered coatings, the color would be noted as 15-1247 TPG Tangerine. For cotton, it would be noted as 15-1247 TCX Tangerine. In addition, for plastics, it would be noted as PQ 15-1247 TCX Tangerine.



    8: WHY SHOULD YOU UPDATE YOUR PANTONE GUIDES & BOOKS?   

    Handling, light, humidity, and oil will cause colors to become inaccurate and you could be missing the latest market and trend driven colors.   How many colors are you missing?



    9: WHICH TEXTILE PRODUCT IS RIGHT FOR ME?  

    Pantone Textiles - Which product is right for me?