Pantone (Carlstadt, NJ), a global authority on colour and provider of professional colour tools for designers, has announced its partnership with menswear brand Corridor (New York City), to streamline its colour and design process with Pantone Fashion, Home + Interiors (FHI) integrated design solution. Corridor, an independent menswear brand, focuses on contemporary American clothing, natural fibres, and responsible design and tailoring. Corridor leveraged Pantone’s FHI tools to create a portable, global design ecosystem in response to the accelerated need for designers to adapt to a new workflow during the COVID-19 pandemic. The evolution of the manufacturing process in design has increasingly become more digital as calls for a more sustainable process (i.e. cutting down on waste and carbon emissions traditionally generated in the sampling process) has become a major priority in the fashion and home furnishings industries as a whole. In addition, the pandemic has shifted the way people work and communicate in design, limiting travel and enforcing communications digitally. As a result, designers have had to ‘fill-in the gaps’ of communication for colour and creation through a seamlessly integrated process that leverages physical and digital design tools.
Dan Snyder, creator of Corridor, wanted to remain committed to the brand’s focus on “making beautiful things” despite these new shifts, and needed a mobile colour development process that would allow him to convert the beauty he saw in nature, into something that could be communicated with his global suppliers. Snyder was able to create his own portable design ecosystem that adapted to his creative needs using Pantone’s Fashion, Home + Interiors Product Suite. Snyder began his process by using the Pantone Connect mobile app, which provides digital access to all the Pantone libraries, to capture his inspirations, create his ideal colour harmonies and translate them into Pantone colours. Additionally, Snyder needed to communicate these colours to his global suppliers and did so by using the Pantone FHI Cotton Planner and Cotton Swatch Card standards. With this integrated design solution, he was not only able to convert his inspiration from nature into fashion, but also create major cost savings and waste reduction as a result.
“Using the Pantone FHI system has doubled the speed of our design process and cut costs significantly,” he pointed out. “Normally, we would need 4-5 strike offs/dyes in order to hit our colour. With Pantone, we typically achieve the colour we need in the first dye lot. Additionally, using the Pantone Connect app in combination with swatch cards, we are able to clearly communicate with our dye house/factory on the agreed colour, and as a result, have been able to reduce waste and carbon emissions by not shipping fabrics across the world. We are extremely excited to be working with Pantone and feel equipped to handle our increasingly digital workflow,” he added. With colour accuracy being at the forefront of Pantone’s capabilities, Pantone’s Fashion, Home, + Interiors design tools offer:
- Over 3,000 colours curated specially for the Fashion, Home + Interiors market ensuring market relevance. The Pantone Fashion, Home + Interiors colour standards are available in multiple formats, including cotton, polyester, nylon, paint-on-paper and metallic.
- A wide range of colour and design solutions meet evolving design needs. The Pantone Fashion, Home + Interior product line offers colour tools for working from home, the studio, and even the production floor. Not only are the FHI tools equipped to support unique physical workspaces, but each tool includes ‘digital complements’ to connect your designs and your teams globally.
- New design technologies that enable new colour innovations. Having digital access to each of Pantone’s entire collection of colours enables designers to seamlessly streamline digital and physical workflows. Spectral data support ensures fast turnarounds and accurate, on-schedule production.
“While digital transformation has continually been a discussion, the industry needed to adapt faster than anticipated to provide a more efficient and sustainable process for the way we work today,” said Shantel Sullivan, Pantone FHI Product Manager. “Pantone is dedicated to creating an environment where designers can have integrated solutions that will enable them to easily shift between physical and digital design, whenever and wherever needed. With Pantone being the global language and translator of colour, we are excited to continue to innovate alongside our fellow designers and be the go-to partner for all creatives at every step of their process – from inspiration to creation,” she added.
To provide designers with colour tools and understanding to cope with the evolution of the creation process in design, Pantone will also be introducing a spotlight series on the Future of Work in design through additional designer partnerships, workshops, and conversations with the design community – to discuss the tension points in their process, how the colour and design process have evolved, as well as trends that have emerged in this new age along with the best way to communicate colour as a result.
