Color Matching Challenges in Textiles: Detecting Illuminant Metamerism

Accurate color matching is essential to creating high-quality products in the textile industry. Image Source: Unsplash user Charisse Kenion

If you work in the textile industry, you understand the complexities inherent to creating the perfect hues. From raw materials to processing methods, the final appearance depends on many variables that you must closely monitor to produce the colors you want. As such, color quality control is vital to product development and manufacturing to help your products live up to your vision.

However, the textile industry faces unique challenges when it comes to implementing robust color quality control systems. One of the most significant is identifying illuminant metamerism, which can be a serious barrier to color matching. Without accounting for this phenomenon, achieving the desired result becomes more difficult, potentially leading to unnecessary waste and reduced efficiency. Investing in technologies that can alert you to illuminant metamerism supports color consistency.

Changes in light source can drastically alter how we perceive color. Image Source: Unsplash user tu tu

What Is Illuminant Metamerism?

Color is often thought of as a static fact, where something either is a particular color or is not. However, the colors we perceive depend on three primary factors:

• The observer
• The object
• The light source

Changes in any of these three factors produce widely different perceptions of color. Think, for example, of the paint on your walls — chances are it appears to transform throughout the day as the light changes, despite no change to the observer or the object.

Illuminant metamerism is quite common and occurs when two colors look the same under one lighting condition but not another. This phenomenon can create issues in color matching. While samples may appear identical under artificial lights in the factory, they may exhibit significant color differences in daylight conditions — what you believed to be a perfect match is instead an inconsistent pairing.

This type of metamerism arises because each object possesses a unique spectral reflectance curve that ultimately determines the color perceived by the observer. If two objects produce the same curve, they are an identical color match, and that match will be apparent in all lighting conditions. If two objects produce different spectral curves but those curves intersect at a minimum of three points, they may be metameric.

In textile production, metamerism is more common when two textile samples are produced using different dyes or pigments rather than from variations in dye strengths or concentrations. However, the causes of metamerism can vary, particularly if your textile sample is being matched to a different material.

Metameric Index (MI) values can be used to determine whether your textile sample will produce an acceptable color match despite not being an identical match. Image Source: Pexels user Pixabay

What Are the Benefits of Spectrophotometric Color Measurement?

In the textile industry, spectrophotometers/colorimeters are critical tools for distilling color information into objective data, facilitating communication, and allowing for precise monitoring of color consistency. Because these devices analyze the spectral reflectance curves of your samples, they are also invaluable for identifying metamerism and determining Metamerism Index (MI) values.

This index quantifies the degree of metamerism by calculating the color difference between two samples under two distinct lighting conditions. With HunterLab Essentials L2 software, you can choose the illuminants for which metamerism will be calculated.

Capturing MI supports informed decision-making — you get the data you need to determine if a match is acceptable, even if slightly different numerically. In general, an MI of less than 0.5 falls within tolerances, while an MI higher than 0.5 but less than 1 will require closer examination. If the MI is greater than 1, however, the samples are not a suitable match.

By integrating spectrophotometric instrumentation in your color quality control protocols, you gain more color insights into your textiles and can use this information to refine your processes and products. Precisely and objectively quantifying color enables tailored color formulations and helps determine when matches are close enough to meet your needs. As such, these instruments can enhance product quality while simultaneously improving production efficiency by reducing material and labor waste.

Why Is Agera L2 the Top-Rated Color Measurement Solution for Textile Manufacturers?

HunterLab's Agera L2 spectrophotometer/colorimeter delivers industry-leading precision, performance, and efficiency for textile color management.

Precision Engineering for Textile Color Challenges

Our Agera L2 features reference-grade 0°/45° circumferential geometry, which is the closest replica of how human eyes see color. This equipment effectively eliminates the challenges associated with manual color evaluation, which is error-prone and highly influenced by observer skill, color perception ability, and fatigue.

Capture consistent color data even on highly textured or uneven textiles. This spectrophotometer simplifies sample averaging with an area of measurement that's 4x to 16x larger than others, supporting faster color-quality decisions.

Additionally, we've created the Agera L2 to address the issues with color measurement in dark textiles. Dark Performance Mode offers 6x the precision on samples below 20% reflectance — perfect for denims and other textiles ranging from dark blues, grays, browns, and purples to the deepest blacks.

Enhanced Optical Performance for Complex Textiles

Complex textiles, such as high-visibility safety clothing, demand specialized measurement approaches that account for their specific features. Agera L2 is built to deliver with advanced optical performance.

This spectrophotometer/colorimeter includes D65 Source Mode, using Certified Grade ‘A’ CIE D65 illumination that provides true daylight source conditions. As a result, you can better predict both how the human eye will judge color in real-world settings and how color perception may change across different lighting environments. Since D65 represents natural daylight, which contains UV energy, readouts consider how optical brighteners in textiles respond.

Plus, the Agera L2 is designed to measure for total appearance, including any surface texture effects. That translates into higher color confidence, even in the most challenging textiles.

Streamlined Textile Quality Control

Gain optimal efficiency in color-related workflows with a single, value-forward investment. Agera L2 arrives ready to use with minimal setup and training, so it's ready for day-one impact.

Seamlessly integrate this device at any production stage without compromising throughput. We've designed this equipment for ease of use, with simple, intuitive navigation and operation. A single button push captures measurements and provides results in less than 3 seconds. A built-in camera with sample preview capabilities helps ensure consistent and accurate sample presentation, reducing measurement discrepancies.

Plus, Agera L2 is a fully self-contained color workstation. Onboard Easymatch Essentials L2 software enables analysis without an additional PC requirement. You can connect a monitor to the HDMI port or keyboard and mouse via USB ports if desired. USB ports also allow fast data migration, and direct connections to LIMS and SPCs are possible with Ethernet connectivity. This spectrophotometer also comes with a built-in library of common textile industry color scores and indices — including Metamerism Index calculation capabilities — for even more efficiency.

Easily view historical data without worrying about its integrity. Agera L2 boasts 32GB of memory to store up to 4 million measurements with images, and user-based access controls uphold data security. A sealed optical housing, rugged construction, and lifetime HunterLab support help ensure maximum return on investment.

Partner With the Expert in Textile Color Measurement

HunterLab has been a leader in spectrophotometric color measurement for over 70 years. Today, we offer a complete range of portable, benchtop, and in-line options ideally suited to the needs of the textile industry. Our continuous commitment to innovation means our spectrophotometers/colorimeters are designed with cutting-edge technologies to ensure the highest degree of accuracy and precision, giving you the information you need to make smart choices about your materials and processes. Contact us to learn more about our renowned solutions, customizable software packages, and unsurpassed customer support services.