Society of Dyers and Colourists (SDC) based in Bradford UK is a leading independent, educational charity dedicated to advancing the science and technology of colour worldwide. Established in 1884, they have been representing members of the industry for over 100 years. In 1962, SDC became a registered educational charity, and in 1963 SDC was granted a Royal Charter and became the only organization in the world that can award the Chartered Colourist Status in recognition of individual professionalism. In India, SDC’s agenda is to impart training in colour management to garment manufacturers, retailers and buying offices. Dilip Gianchandani, Regional Director, Intertek has recently been nominated on the Board of Trustees of SDC – India. Apparel Online was invited to have a one o’ one interaction with Dr. Graham Clayton – CEO (SDC – UK) and Yogesh Gaikwad – Technical Manager – Asia (SDC) at Intertek’s office in Gurgaon to understand SDC’s agenda in India…
The clear mission of SDC is to communicate the science of colour in a changing world to members of the society, with membership open to professionals, individuals, colleges, companies and students. It provides Professional Colouration Qualification – accredited qualifications that are recognized by industry worldwide. Being a non profitable organization; SDC generates income from membership fees and training courses which are much subsidized to cover the cost they incur during the training sessions.
SDC doesn’t have its own labs and it imparts training through testing labs of established players where their trainers go and give training sessions. “In addition, we work very closely with AATCC with regard to Colour Index which is an online database of all pigments, dyes and chemicals based on which one can find out the properties and functional area of the molecule which helps the dyers to understand the dyes with a particular CI number by which they can ask for a particular recipe,” points out Graham.
In the country for many years, India is an important centre for them. “India is significant for us as it is a huge textile base. It is important for designers, merchandisers, technicians to understand how to communicate about colour; how the same colour looks different in different settings; the classic example being that if you put a black line around things the colour looks sharp,” says Graham.
In India very few companies are organized and a majority of the textile companies and processors still depend on indigenous ways to prepare their colour recipes, so SDC feels that their presence in India is all the more relevant. “We have 29 Chartered Colourists in India to help the industry to understand colour management be it in textiles or leather; we undertake seminars, training programmes, consultancy programmes for all levels, be it retailers, garment manufacturers or processors. We are now even taking our training sessions to small clusters like Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Amritsar and Surat,” informed Graham.
Reducing water consumption in dyeing is another agenda which SDC wants to promote in India. “It’s important to understand the process of achieving the right colour by using less water. The international standard for dyeing one kg of cotton is by using 100 litres of water and now with latest technology 1 kg of cotton can be dyed in just 35 litres of water; basically saving 75 litres of water along with drastic reduction of effluent discharge,” explains Yogesh.
Colour management depends on kinds of lights and also the mood of the colour reader. What looks green in natural light might look blue in a tube light. Mood plays a great role in visual preference of the colour. “When mood changes, the colour also changes; one should be cool minded while seeing and reading colours,” adds Yogesh.
SDC has formal test for colour blindness which is called Ishihara to check the deficiency level of completely blind, partially blind or somewhat blind. “It’s a proven fact that males vis-à-vis females are more prone to colour blindness; predominantly the blindness comes from the ‘x’ chromosome so if a male is carrying a deficient ‘x’ chromosome then there is no other option because the other chromosome is ‘y’; so if you are having one deficient ‘x’ chromosome you are colour blind, whereas females have two ‘x’ chromosomes so if one is deficient there is other one to protect it and it is very rare that she will get both of them defected. It is very important for a colourist to know whether he/she is colour blind or not as that is a basic requirement for a technician,” informs Yogesh.
So if your merchandiser is a female and she approves a colour, your technician at the shop floor who is a male may disapprove the same colour… hence it is very critical to understand colour and take all necessary precautions to ensure that colour is read properly as business in the global world is many a times dependent on how swiftly and accurately colour can be matched.
