Pantone revises home textile color standards

By Carole Sloan -- Home Textiles Today, 11/3/2003 12:00:00 AM

CARLSTADT —

Pantone has revised its Textile Color System to Pantone Fashion and Home, a name and approach that more clearly identifies its 1925 color system.

Key to the new system is the layout of colors — now chromatically arranged by color family compared with the previous layout by hues from brights to cools to specialty colors, explained Lisa Herbert, executive vp, Pantone. "Before, someone would have to go through each hue segment to see all the reds, for example."

"As we moved into home and architecture, we found the format needed to be changed so color could be applied specifically to product, design, sourcing and manufacturing," Herbert added.

The new approach also offers a bigger book with bigger chips of each color and a new template with Pantone textile reference numbers and English names. To standardize the color testing methods and the color approval process, the company has selected D 65 (Daylight) as the primary light source for color evaluation. This light bulb, Herbert noted, is readily available worldwide and is more stable and consistent, providing better color consistency.

The company also has upgraded the system for computer use.