How to set a color standard
A color standard is three things written down - the approved sample, the light it is checked under, and the tolerance you will accept.
- color is the most common disagreement in this business and the one with the clearest fix.
- Two acceptable batches can be rejected against each other when the checking light is not stated.
- A new colorway raises the MOQ floor because the setup has to be recovered across the run.
The cheapest fix in tackle sourcing
color is the field where a buyer and a factory most often disagree while both being right. The disagreement is almost never about the color; it is about the light. A green that matches in daylight and a green that matches under a factory's tubes can be the same green, and a standard that does not say which light is being used is not a standard.
So the fix is three lines on the order, and it costs nothing:
- The approved sample, referenced by an identifier.
- The light source it is checked under.
- The tolerance that will be accepted.
Everything else on this page is elaboration.
Why the sample is the standard, not the code
A color code describes a color that does not exist yet. Once a physical sample has been approved, the sample is the standard and a delivery is measured against it - not against the code, not against a photograph, and not against a memory of the conversation.
This matters particularly for tackle, because so much of it is translucent, matte or two-tone. On a translucent bait the color the buyer sees depends on what is behind it; on a two-tone bait it depends on where the line between the colors falls. A code cannot carry either.
Finish is a separate field from color
This is the distinction that catches buyers who think they have specified color when they have not.
| Field | What it is | Why it is separate |
|---|---|---|
| color | The hue itself | Changeable at the mixing stage |
| Finish | Matte, gloss, translucent, two-tone | Separate process steps |
| Flake | Metallic flake count and size | A second step on top of the color |
| Pattern | Printed artwork rather than a solid color | Needs its own transfer tooling on a hard bait |
Our soft lure and hard lure type pages both carry the finish field in the specification list, because a matte and a gloss version of the same color are two products commercially.
Why a new colorway raises the MOQ
A colorway is a setup, exactly like a mould. That is why:
- A stock colorway runs in the low thousands on a soft plastic.
- A new colorway raises the floor, because the setup has to be recovered across the run.
This is the same arithmetic behind every MOQ number on this site, and it is worth reading alongside how to negotiate MOQ without losing the price - because "stay on a stock color for the first order" is one of the four levers on that page.
Where the color check sits in the process
color is checked at two points, and they are not the same check:
- At sample approval - you are establishing the standard. This is the only moment where the standard can be set.
- At pre-shipment inspection - the delivery is measured against the approved sample, under the stated light.
Our inspection page sets out where that check sits and what the inspector measures. The important structural point is that the second check is only meaningful if the first one produced a physical sample and a written light source. Otherwise the inspector is measuring against a description - which is what the sample was supposed to replace.
What a delivery cannot tell you
The sample-to-production gap is worth reading here. A color check confirms the color. It does not confirm that the color holds on the two-thousandth piece, or that the finish will not dull in the pack, or that the strands will not deform in the carton. Those are separate lines, and each one has to be specified if it matters.
The three lines, again
- [ ] "The approved sample, reference ⟨id⟩"
- [ ] "Checked under ⟨light source⟩"
- [ ] "Tolerance: ⟨what you will accept⟩"
Where to go next
- colorway tolerance - the glossary entry behind this page
- Inspection checkpoints and documents
- What a QC record should contain — where the color check belongs in the record
- How to negotiate MOQ without losing the price
- What to do when a sample fails
- Send a specification