Lab Dips Explained

Scheduled article — part of the Development series.

A lab dip is a small swatch dyed to match your target colour, produced before bulk so everyone signs off on the exact shade. It's a modest step — a few square centimetres of fabric — but it carries more commercial weight than almost any other approval in the development process.

Why lab dips matter

Colour is where bulk orders go wrong. A shade that looked right on screen can land noticeably off in fabric, and by the time bulk is dyed, correcting it means re-dyeing or rejection — both expensive, both slow. A lab dip removes the guesswork: you approve a physical shade on your actual base before a single metre of bulk is dyed, and that approved swatch becomes the contractual reference everyone works to.

How it works

1. You provide a target — a Pantone TCX/TPX reference, a physical swatch, or both. A physical standard is always stronger: paper and fibre reflect light differently.
2. The dye house lab dips to match, on your chosen base. Most labs submit two or three options (often labelled A, B and C) — typically the closest match plus slightly warmer or cooler alternatives.
3. You assess the dips under consistent lighting and approve one — or request an adjustment with a specific direction ("half a shade redder", "less yellow").
4. The approved dip becomes the standard for bulk. Bulk production is then checked against it, usually with a shade band showing acceptable variation.

Each round typically takes about a week, so build one or two rounds into your critical path. Vague feedback is the biggest cause of extra rounds — "not quite right" tells the lab nothing; "too green, needs more red" gets you there next time.

Lighting: where most disputes start

Metamerism is the phenomenon where two colours match under one light source but split apart under another — and it's behind most colour disagreements between buyer and supplier. The industry manages it by assessing under standardised light sources in a light box:

Light source	Simulates	Typically used for
D65	Average daylight	Primary standard for most approvals
TL84	European/Asian store lighting	Retail check
CWF	US store lighting	US retail programmes
UV	Ultraviolet content	Detecting optical brighteners

Agree with your supplier which light source is primary (D65 is the usual default) and check the dip under a second source for metamerism. If you don't have a light box, north-facing daylight at a consistent time of day is the practical fallback — never mixed office lighting.

Approving a lab dip well

• Assess under consistent, agreed light, with the dip flat against your standard, viewed at the same angle.
• Judge on the actual base fabric, not paper — the same recipe reads differently on poplin versus twill.
• Note whether you're approving as-is or as a "commercial match with tolerance" — many programmes work to an agreed instrumental tolerance (commonly CMC ΔE of 1.0 or less) alongside visual sign-off.
• Keep the approved dip filed and reference it by number in your bulk order.

Common pitfalls

Approving from a photograph, signing off under the wrong light, and skipping the lab dip entirely on "simple" colours like black and navy — which are actually among the hardest to match — are the three mistakes we see most. Getting the lab dip right protects your whole order.

Request a lab dip or read about custom development.