An email from a dealer friend of mine last week posed a very interesting question about the color of carpet. He had a consumer who was refusing to accept the carpet she purchased because when it arrived at her home for installation the color looked different than it did on the sample in the store. Most dealers never think about the difference in color shade when they sell a product. Whatever it looks like in the store is the way it should look in the home, right? Wrong. Depending on the lighting you have in the store and that which the consumer has in her house, the carpet can and will look like it’s a different color shade. In our seminar, when we talk about color and dyeing, we do a demonstration with a light box. This box has four different types of lighting. In each segmented portion of the box the carpet looks dramatically different under each light source. When we turn the lights in the box off and the carpet exhibits all one color, everyone’s amazed. This demonstration shows the affect of various lighting on color.

When the consumer comes into your store to pick out a particular color, whether it be carpet or another flooring material, she will see it under the light you have in the store. If she brings in swatches of other material to match to the flooring, they will all look a different color shade, depending on the type lighting you have. This is why it is important to either take the sample the consumer is looking at to a window or use a natural light source so the true color can be seen. You can even take samples outside to the natural light to compare it to other materials or to other colors of carpet being considered.

In our testing labs and in the industrys’ dye houses and quality control labs, a device called a Macbeth Spectra Light is used to check color shades to color standards or to compare one dye lot to another for matching. You can avail yourself of this service if necessary or, when a concern for color shade arises, you can contact your manufacturing supplier to help with a comparison. Remember though that color shades will always vary from dye lot to dye lot. This caveat is on the label behind every carpet sample. The color will never be exact even on solution dyed yarns from dye lot to dye lot. There will always be some variation however slight, which is why, if the color is critical, you have to explain this to the consumer, show them the label, take her swatches and your sample to natural light and explain that the match will be as close as is humanly possible. Use the analogy of fabric, wall covering, paint or any other material that will vary in shade from lot to lot. This is one sure way of avoiding a complaint or rejection of the product you sold.

You don’t need any technical equipment if you explain this fact up front and, as I mentioned, show the product in natural light. If the material looks a different shade in your store versus how it looks in her house, it will reveal the true variation, or lack thereof, in a natural light source. If they bring a piece of installed material into the store and want you to compare it to the sample, take them both outside. Now, we already told you there will be a shade variation from the sample to the installed product, just like there will be a shade variation from the little paint color cards to the actual paint you put on the wall.

How then would you handle a problem like my dealer friend had? Well, he can send samples in to have them tested under a Macbeth light, or he can simply take the samples outside and compare them and see how closely they match, or don’t. But if there was no mention of the fact that the shades would vary and it was critical they did, you’ve essentially got yourself buried in quicksand. Who’s right then? Well, you can argue that the label says the color will vary from dye lot to dye lot but if they take you to court and you have to compare the color shade and they’re off to an extreme, most likely you’ll lose. You’ll eat the job and never do business with that consumer again.

A little preventive information will always keep you out of trouble. This is why you have to qualify the customer and why it’s good to have a someone on staff selling who understands what a consumer is trying to accomplish. And remember, color is the most important factor in choosing a new carpet, it’s always critical. If a customer comes in with samples of other material to match the flooring she wants, you are now aware of what you have to do. Look at all the samples in a natural, neutral light. Not in your store, unless you have natural lighting, or her house. And explain that shades vary so you don’t get yourself backed into a corner over the color you showed versus the color that showed up at her house.

If you have concerns like this contact us for help. Asking questions is free and more and more of you are asking, which we appreciate. Educate yourself or your staff with this invaluable learning experience and investment. Preventing one problem far exceeds the price you’ll pay for what you’ll learn.