Emphasizes heavily on customer-centered innovation, color management solutions provider Datacolor will celebrate its 50th anniversary in the year of 2020.

At ShanghaiTex 2019, Datacolor presented its two major highlights: SpectraVision spectrophotometer, which is designed to satisfy customers conducting multi-color prints, trim, yarn, zippers and lace sample analysis, as well as ColorHub, which enables real-time visibility of mills’ color performance leveraging cloud based data depository.

In an exclusive interview with CTA, Dustin Bowersox, Datacolor Market Manager, Textiles & Apparel, commented that big data is undoubtedly the mega technological trend right now.

“Brands and suppliers have been collecting consumer and production data for decades. The gap has been around how that data can be easily dissected and analyzed and more importantly what decisions can be derived from it. New solutions are making it easier for the industry to make these critical product decisions that positively impact quality and costs,” he said.

As introduced, Datacolor’s ColorHub and other quality platforms display or communicate objective data which allows critical decisions to be made at the point of manufacture without the need for heavy brand oversight. This speeds up the development process and gets product to the consumer much faster.

In addition, he said Datacolor’s comprehensive digital color management solutions encompass all of a brand’s and their suppliers’ processes that are impacted by color. This ranges from initial color selection by design to delivery of final products to the store shelf.

“A fully digital approach to color management can ultimately pay for itself—not just with cost savings, but with time savings and consistent quality as well,” he underscored.

Nowadays, the market environment of the fashion industry is changing every day and the consumer demand for personalized products is getting stronger.

“The timeline for trend to consumer is much shorter than it has ever been. Thus the consumer expects to find the latest styles with just a few simple clicks on their mobile devices. This forces the entire textile industry to rethink their development calendar/timelines. Unique fit and personalization are becoming more relevant with today’s shoppers, which places more emphasis on smaller more agile production processes,” Bowersox pointed out.

According to him, the solutions of Datacolor help customers to keep up with the fast-paced fashion industry and market demand. “Sourcing strategies are ever evolving! Contingency sourcing plans have never been more important than it is today. Having qualified incumbent and backup suppliers are essential in minimizing risk to product delivery. ”

For example, he said, Datacolor Certify is a color assessment and lab audit programs that help brands, retailers and vendors dramatically reduce the time and cost of product development.  Brands gain transparency into the capabilities of potential supply chain partners, and mills have the opportunity to market their commitment to investment in critical technology and skilled people.

Talking about the latest collaboration along the supply chain, Bowersox said Datacolor launched SpectraVision with the support of several major US retail brands and their supply chain. This new solution allows businesses to objectively measure and digitally communicate the color of previously unmeasurable materials, including multi-color textile prints, trim, yarn, zippers and lace.

With the introduction of SpectraVision, the textile industry can finally take full advantage of the benefits of objective digital color measurement and communication. Retailers and suppliers can save on color approval process costs by decreasing strike offs, lowering color standard maintenance costs and reducing physical sample shipments.