Uniform Industry News

For the last 40+ years, the internationally recognized Pantone Matching System (PMS) is what has laid out choices of color for all visual aspects of our world: Cars and fabrics, cosmetics and hair care, house paints and carpeting, china and crockery, plastics and appliances, crayons and computer design graphics, and more. Colorwise, today's finished products are determined by Pantone, Inc., and interestingly, not the other way around. Home Depot orange, UPS brown, Tiffany blue, Barbie pink: It is the work of genius.

There are shades of light and dark by adding black and white; tints of colors such as azure, navy, royal, or teal blues; and the various hues such as basic red, blue, yellow, orange, brown, and so forth. There are metallics, shineys, and flats or bisques—no different than lame's, satins, and cottons or woolens.

Every one of the hundreds of Pantone colors is different, and yet similarities abound. Colors can appear with an entirely different presentation on fabric than on a paper calling card or the sign painted on a company truck. Sometimes, it's very difficult to convince a customer that the color he sees in a magazine may be closely duplicated but not exactly, when attempting to transfer ink to cloth, or a printed logo to embroidery thread. Substances grab dyes differently. PMS colors help us as manufacturers and sellers of uniforms to convince our shoppers that there is an official bottom line for color.

Based in Carlstadt, New Jersey, Pantone is run by Lawrence Herbert and his daughter, Lisa. Herbert, whose great love is color, began working for the printing company in 1956, hoping to become a physician one day, while printing color cards for cosmetic companies in the meantime. However, with his backgrounds in chemistry and biology, he began to perfect various recipes for colors with scientific precision, and eventually expanded his knowledge to deal with the full spectrum. Ultimately, he bought the printing operations portion of the company, which he finally incorporated into his own firm in 1963.

Until that time, every printer had his own palette of colors, but none was synchronized with another; even within the same printing house, the colors were often skewed or off-tone from one run to the next. What Herbert did was profound: He standardized color. He gave every available shade, tint, and hue a different number and recipe (and sometimes a name) that cannot be varied. He went to 21 printing companies with his recipes, hoping to convince them that this kind of color regulation would be an asset. They went for it, and the rest, as they say, is "his-story."

Today, there are approximately 1,800 different blends from which one can choose. When a company wants a particular shade that isn't a part of the Pantone system, then Pantone will invent it. If it is a patented, corporate color, then only that particular company has access to it. If it is less protected, then there is public access.

New colors are constantly being created. In fact, many industries circle the Pantone crystal ball as early as 18 months in advance in order to find out what the color wizards are up to. In so doing, there is a cooperative and coordinate multi-industry effort to utilize the latest Pantone offerings: Will it be a brown fall, or a pink spring, a black and red winter, a marigold summer? If you think fashion or automobile manufacturers know, think again. It is Pantone. The environmentalists did not come up with kiwi and lime green for last season's spring shirts. Nope. It was Pantone.

When you open your latest catalogues, or design your new garments for the season, you are specking out the available PMS colors that were developed months in advance. If you show the current items from your favorite vendor, whether it be seasonal color changes, or newly mixed shades, it's all from the Pantone color spectrum. Should you call a thread manufacturer or fabric converter, an embroiderer or screen printer, a button or zipper distributor, you are utilizing Pantone.

To the extent that the uniform industry is more conservative than some, one might think that fewer colors would be used. On the other hand, because uniforms now include such an enormous array of choices, this is less and less the case. What has to be called "gigglebox fun," is that Pantone also delights in pairing colors, thereby putting particular color combinations in the spotlight as readily as it does single tints and shades: Navy and pink; black and khaki; grey and red—such mixes are whole units unto themselves.

Sets of the PMS color cards—not unlike the early cosmetic cards that Mr. Lawrence first created—are not only available as basic all-purpose chips, but there are card sets used solely for the textile industry, as well. The only problem with selling a customer off of these cards is that there is usually a 3,000-5,000 yard minimum to have fabric custom dyed. Going offshore for a lower minimum, even without customs and freight, is not a lot less.

The next time your customer comes in with a bottle of suntan lotion and tells you that he wants you to match the lettering on the side of the bottle to a razzle dazzle fabric with a keen sheen, as a must for his singing group's new uniform shirts, think PMS. Use it with him, and then forward the color number to your supplier, who also should have the cards. Hopefully, this will save you hours and hours of researching and postage for sample swatches, and earn you a handsome account at the same time.

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Debra Hindlemann Webster is the owner of Custom Uniform Company, a manufacturer of high-quality, American-made custom uniforms. The company has been serving individuals, groups, theme parks, corporations, offices, military, hospitality, entertainment centers, and many other businesses with unique custom apparel for more than 70 years.

Visit www.CustomUniformCompany.com or email them at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to learn more.

Do you ever wonder what certain phrases mean? Do you ever use certain words or terms without having a clue regarding origin or meaning? Here's one for you: "Dressed to the nines." We use it more with the upper crust than the lower, and maybe more with women than men. But the term itself has been around for a few hundred years; perhaps longer than that. It's been used with the height of couture fashion, covering designs for daytime and evening wear; it's been used to describe the average Joe who is one step above; and it's been used with top-notch uniforms.

In truth, no one knows where "dressed to the nines" comes from, but there are numerous possible origins: Some say it has to do with the nine muses from Greek mythology and the arts—the best that aesthetics had to offer in every genre: Some say it refers to the nine Worthies, who are outstanding heroes from both literature and history—King Arthur, David, Joshua, and the like. The number nine is the last and highest of the single digits, and its square root is the mystical number three; nine has always been regarded as magic.

There is 18th century poetry from Scotland, with Robert Byrnes waxing over nature as being painted beautifully to the nines. There is the possibility of the medieval phrase, "dressed to thine eyne," referring to one's eyes being the loveliest ever—with the words gradually evolving to "the nines." In 18th century England, poet William Hamilton referred to the nines—how they contented him. In 14th century France, John de Mandeville wrote that war without peace would always be to the ninth degree if his king were not to reform.

"Dressed to the nines" simply means that one's fashion statement is tip-top. For the uniform industry, we are talking about an identity that puts our best feet forward, that advertises us as par excellence, that outwardly displays the kinds of qualities that we apply to our companies inwardly, with our entire collective focus as a team.

When it comes to apparel, some say that it refers to the "whole nine yards," which at one time was the amount of fabric used to make up a suit for an elegant gentleman or, imagine a single elegant shirt! (Figure narrow, 36" wide goods, or even the most foppish 18th century dandy would drown in ruffles and lace at this quantity if it were a 45" or 60" fabric width).

"So many things have changed," Dave Hindlemann reflects. "It used to be a handshake was a man's word. Now, it's lawyers and contracts – cut and dried. The personal element is missing." (“Made to Measure Magazine," Spring/Summer, 1997).

If you've been talking with your colleagues lately, or even if you've been involved personally, you've probably noticed that our society has changed when it comes to the way in which it does business. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac aside, credit crunch and housing markets, too, the uniform industry has been hit with the same kinds of changes in ethical behavior—not only from customers, but from our own small family of apparel manufacturers and suppliers.

More and more, companies are refusing to lend credit, expecting prompt payments with 50% down and balance prepaid before delivery. More and more customers find themselves short and not wanting to pay their bills, no matter how loyal they've been in the past. Return authorizations are being required from corporations that heretofore accepted merchandise sent back as a matter of courtesy: Good will is no longer the name of the game. One or two bad customers can shift more friendly relaxed business policies away from good will, towards harsh, stiff penalties and beyond.