Monday, March 29, 2010

Isn't a color a color?

Not always!!! Often times you will hear RGB or PMS colors. There really is a reason for this. When you had your logo designed, you carefully chose the colors that you liked and that fit your brand.

The graphic designer may have shown you a booklet full of different colors or just simply showed you how your logo would look with different colors. The book was most likely full of Pantone Colors. This is the best way to make sure your logo is consistent from one media to the next is by choosing a pantone color.

Pantone colors are not always able to be reproduced exactly. Embroidery is a good example of this. There are many different thread colors but not as many as there are pantone colors. Because of this, we simply find the thread that is the closest match to the pantone color.

Here are the three most commonly used color descriptions:

RGB – Red, green, blue – This is mostly used for web and photography for displaying the images in electronic systems.

CMYK – Cyan, magenta, yellow, black – This is used for printed material such as the four color process. It is often times used to describe the printing process itself.

PMS – Pantone Matching System – This is a standardized color reproduction system.

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Monday, November 10, 2008

Thread

One very important necessity to embroidery, that most do not even think about, is the thread.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="153" caption="Isacord Thread"]Isacord Thread[/caption]

There are many different threads to choose from.  In fact, we can drive to the local sewing store and
purchase thread for the machine.  We would not do this though!  We are very particular with the thread that we use!  We have tried several different kinds over the years and have decided on our favorite.

You may talk to 10 different embroiders and receive a few different answer although there are really two leading embroidery thread companies in the world ;  Isacord and Mandeira.  The thread that we choose is a very high quality thread.  It is Isacord Polyester which is the benchmark by which all other polyester threads are measured.  It was also the first thread company to market while remaining the top choice of embroiderers around the world.

According to the Isacord website, "it is the thread of choice for maximum productivity and the highest
quality of embroidery among the largest embroidery houses.  Isacord is the smoothest running and most reliable thread produced.  It has been engineered from the finest raw material to provide just the right
amount of elasticity to allow for high speed running without looping or puckering with virtually eliminated thread breaks."

Many times, our customers will request that we use the Pantone colors in their logo.  This is typically not an issue as Isacord is available in over 500 Pantone colors. Now if you know anything about Pantone colors

then you know that there are many more than 500.  If there is not a direct match then we will call the manufacturer and find out what color they recommend for that particular Pantone color. To date, we have not had an issue with this not working.  As you may know, every monitor shows the colors a little bit differently as well as everyone's eyes see colors differently.  Because of this, getting the closest to the Pantone Color is acceptable.

I will talk more about Laundering your Embroidered Apparel in the future but one quick note about it,
"Isacord is a high sheen polyester embroidery thread which offers maximum wash ability and durability and is, with correct handling, safe for Hypochlorite bleaching processes."  (Quoted from the Ackerman website)

I have only touched a little on thread.  There is so much more out there to learn.  If you are interested or have any additional questions, let me know!

What do you think?

Did you learn something new about thread that you did nto know before?  If so, what was it?

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