Spectroradiometer Displays Clothing in Its Best Light Imagine that you are a buyer for a clothing retailer. You've investigated the fashion trends at industry shows to select a line of clothing for the coming season. But the time and money invested upstream in producing the exact color originally selected may come to naught unless the product is displayed under well-controlled lighting. Research using the LightSpex spectroradiometer could help managers optimize the lighting in their stores.
Uncontrolled light can lead to poor color quality and, ultimately, a loss in sales.
Defects in the light sources or in their arrangement, and natural light from a nearby window, can corrupt store lighting. Many shoppers are familiar with the problem of purchasing a garment in a store, only to find that the color looks very different at home. The effect that occurs when two products appear to be the same color under one set of lighting conditions but are different when the lighting is changed, is called metamerism. The American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists and student researchers from the College of Textiles at North Carolina State University are using the LightSpex spectroradiometer from McMahan Research Laboratories to quantify lighting variability in retail stores. Their goal is to enhance color control and enable store managers to optimize the lighting under which they display their merchandise.