- Designers select seasonal shades from the Archroma Libraries, trend services, or they submit a sample for a custom match.
- If a new custom shade is developed, Archroma formulates the color at its regional facility and establishes a numerical recipe for the color. This process also considers the retailer’s requirements for colorfastness and the ability to produce the same shade on different fabric types.
- The recipe and the color’s mathematical “identity” are printed on swatch cards that hold actual fabric samples showing the color.
- The recipe is posted on a password-protected portion of the myarchroma.com Web site. Access is limited to exclusive use of that Archroma Retailer and its vendors. This gives the dyer an electronic headstart on ensuring precise color matches in production; the fabric can be dyed even before the standard is physically in hand. Vendors conduct dyeing trials and work with Archroma, if needed, to achieve the established production and dyehouse standards (conditions and equipment vary from plant to plant).
- Archroma provides direct, individualized technical assistance through the Web site and Clariant’s 100 affiliates worldwide.
- Once the customer approves dyeing samples, garment or textile production begins.
- Thanks to Archroma’s involvement with precisely engineered standards and the related package of services at the beginning of the product development cycle, the 9-to-11-month time from concept to production of the finished textile or garment can be shortened by several weeks.
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