What is lab dip?
A lab dip is a small piece of the actual fabric dyed to your Pantone reference before any bulk dyeing, sent for approval. It is how a custom colour is confirmed — and how a reorder a year later matches, because the recipe is kept.
Why it matters
Colour on a screen is not colour on cotton. The lab dip is the point where you see the real shade on the real fabric and can adjust before 200 pieces are dyed.
On our floor
One lab dip per colour as a one-off; matched to Pantone TCX; recipe held for reorders. Standard on every custom dye lot, which with us is 300 pieces of a colour.
Common questions
- How accurate is a lab dip?
- Usually within a shade of the reference; the dip is where you confirm or adjust.
- How long does it take?
- Two to four days.
- Is a lab dip needed for stock colours?
- No — only for custom colours dyed to order.
- Can I approve from a photo?
- For a first look; for accuracy we ship the physical swatch.
Related terms
Pantone TCX
Pantone TCX is the Pantone system for textiles: colours defined on dyed cotton swatches rather than printed paper, so they represent what a…
garment dyeing
Garment dyeing sews the garment first, in undyed fabric, and dyes the finished piece afterwards in a batch. It produces the soft, washed,…
colourway
A colourway is one complete colour combination of a style: the body colour, the rib, the thread, the print colours and the label, taken…
strike-off
A strike-off is a single test print of your design on the real garment or fabric, produced before bulk so you can approve the colour, the…
Where this applies
Book a call
Twenty minutes with the people who make it — the garment, the quantity, the date.
Put it to work
Send us what you have — a garment, a logo, a rough quantity — for a quote within a working day, or book a call and we will talk it through.
Get a quote