Custom-Dyed Merino Yarn: What Grey Scale Grade 4 Means
A colour already on the stock colour card can be knitted from yarn that is already dyed. A colour that is not on the card can be dyed to order. Dye-to-order is judged against the shade both sides have approved. The commercial pass for that comparison is grey scale grade 4: a slight difference that dye houses accept on a new shade.
Stock colours and dye-to-order
Stock colours are shades already dyed and shown on the colour card we send for the 100% ultrafine merino we knit with. Dye-to-order means a new target colour is dyed for your programme. Grey scale grade 4 applies to that new dyeing, set against the approved shade. Colours already on the card are supplied as stock shades.
A custom-dyed shade has a higher yarn minimum and a longer lead time than a stock colour. How that changes a sweater quote is covered in what determines a custom merino sweater price. The kilogram minimum and the number of days are confirmed on the order. This article does not fix either figure.
What the grey scale measures
The card is the grey scale for assessing change in colour, GB/T 250-2008, which corresponds to ISO 105-A02. Dye houses use that card to rate a new dyeing against an approved shade. The scale runs from grade 5 to grade 1.
- Grade 5 means no visible difference between the two samples.
- Grade 4 means a slight difference, and it is the commercial pass we use for dye-to-order.
- Grade 3 and below means a clearer difference, and it is generally not accepted as a pass.
The rating is visual. The approved shade and the dyed yarn are placed side by side and compared with the grey scale, under the light agreed when the shade is approved. A phone photograph is not the assessment.
Grade 4 on the card is about ΔE 1.7
In ISO 105-A02, the grade 4 pair on the card is a CIELAB colour difference of 1.7, with ±0.3 allowed in the making of that pair. The ±0.3 describes the card. The yarn is accepted by the visual grade.
Workshops often call this pass “4.0”. That number is the grade. A spectrophotometer reading of ΔE 4.0 is a different and wider gap. On the same card, ΔE 4.0 falls between the grade 3 step, about ΔE 3.4, and the grade 2–3 step, about ΔE 4.8. Grade 4 is the closer step, at about ΔE 1.7.
What you see on the sweater
Yarn that passes grade 4 can still look slightly different from the approved shade after knitting, washing and pressing. The yarn for the order is dyed for the approved shade, and the sweaters in that order are knitted from the yarn that passed the check. A later order is a new dyeing. That dyeing is checked against the approved shade when it is made.
What to send before dyeing
The closer the reference is to a physical colour, the closer the first dyeing sits to the shade you expect.
- A physical colour sample, or a lab dip that both sides have approved.
- A Pantone code or a screen image can open the conversation. The bulk yarn is judged against the approved physical shade.
- Written acceptance that a dye-to-order shade passes at grey scale grade 4.
- The light source, and the person who approves the shade, agreed when the sample is signed off.
Send the colour reference with the garment brief. We will say whether it is a stock colour or a dye-to-order, and which approved shade the grade 4 check will use. Send the brief.
