Comparative study of the illumination effect on the appearances of woven fabrics composed of single and multiple colors of yarns

Color has been strategically used to attract consumers in the textile and clothing industry, and yarn color mixing is one of the most typical methods of imparting color to textile products. However, the fact that color appears different depending on the illumination has concerned textile designers and sellers at the point of color communication and sale. This study quantitatively analyzed how the color appearance of woven fabrics composed of single and multiple colors of yarns changes under a broad spectrum of illumination conditions. The lightness, chroma, and hue appearance values of 36 chromatic fabrics, in which red, yellow, green, and blue yarns were woven together, under 16 different illumination conditions were calculated. For the illumination conditions, correlated color temperatures (CCTs) of 2700, 4000, 5000, and 6500 K and luminance of 100, 1000, 4000, and 8000 cd/m2 were employed. The color appearance values of fabrics under the 16 light sources were compared with each other and also with their true physical colors. It was observed that the ranges of the varying lightness, chroma, and hue appearances of fabrics ranged up to 8.49, 16.24, and 27.04, respectively, indicating the huge effect of illumination on color appearance changes. In particular, the lower CCT of light sources induced the larger lightness appearance changes of fabrics from their actual physical colors. It was also found that the magnitudes of the color appearance changes of fabrics induced by light sources differed significantly according to the number of yarn colors and the overall colorimetric properties of the fabrics.