Metamerism problem in the colour recipe calculation

Abstract The analysis presented in this paper was carried out in the context of two main objectives. One was the study of the phenomenon of metamerism, and the other was the investigation of the possibility of applying new acid dyes in relation to the already known ones, from the aspect of durability, and ecological and economic sustainability. The analysis was carried out on samples dyed under industrial conditions in the Jadran d.d. sock factory. The aim was to show the phenomenon of metamerism as one of the key parameters of quality control in dyeing, which, if present, prevents the conversion of production to new dyes that would allow faster and cheaper production with a higher degree of dye exhaustion, which certainly has an impact on economic and environmental sustainability. The analysis of the metamerism was performed spectrophotometrically and the results are shown in a form of the reflectance curves, the numeric evaluation of colour parameters (L*, C*, h) and the positioning of the colours in the a*/b* colour space. The analysis and comparison of the colorations obtained with two types of dyes (new generic and known) did not show a great difference in the occurrence of the phenomenon of metamerism. This speaks in favour of the further development of new dyes that, whose improved properties, would contribute to an improvement in the context of sustainability, although this part is still within the scope of the research hypothesis that continues and whose results will be published in further publications.