If you’ve ever purchased athletic gear or signage for a team you’ve learned that color varies drastically from vendor to vendor. Keeping consistent color for your team across a variety of products can be a major challenge. Ordering new uniforms, helmet decals, record boards, etc. in the wrong color is a costly error that we would like to help you avoid.
The reason why this problem is so common is simple. Color names are not the same from vendor to vendor. Each vendor chooses it’s own names for each of their particular standard color swatches.
Another large factor in how colors look in the final product is the material it is printed on. A shade of blue used on a gym banner may look drastically different from a uniform even though they are both “navy blue” simply because vinyl banner material and a polyester-blend fabric have very different physical properties.
Lastly, the same color can look very different from printer to printer depending on the quality of the machine, number of colors the printer has available to mix and the color setting used on the printer.
Order by Number, Not by Name
The best way to ensure your colors remain as consistent as possible is to provide your vendor with a PMS color. PMS stands for Pantone Matching System and is a standard color guide for the printing industry. The idea behind PMS is that it provides a standard reference to “color match” regardless of the printer used. Business and athletic teams worldwide use this system to help protect their brand and keep color consistency.
Offer College or Professional Team Examples
If your team has not chosen specific PMS colors, the easiest way to keep things consistent is to let your vendor know what professional or university team uses the same colors. College and pro teams always have specific color codes that your vendor can look up and match.
Don’t Rely On Your Computer Monitor
Color can look drastically different from screen to screen. It’s important that you don’t choose a color solely based on how it looks like on your monitor. You are most likely not seeing the exact same thing as your vendor sees on their screen. Team Fitz computer monitors have been carefully calibrated to ensure what your designer sees matches the final product as closely as possible.
Color matching can be complicated, but keeping these easy tips in mind will help you get the right color for your school gear every time. Team Fitz would also be happy to provide a printed color swatch that you can verify is correct. Our objective is make sure you are completely comfortable with your decision and the final product exceeds expectation.