“Can you match this exact shade of terracotta, and can it be ready in three weeks?”
A small design studio gearing up for a September show asked us that a few years ago, paint chip and all. It’s a familiar kind of request for this time of year, and “can you colour match this zip?” is something we can absolutely do! London Fashion Week quite often has decisions made close to the wire, colours that only exist on someone’s mood board, hardware that needs to disappear into the garment, or make a statement on it, depending on the piece and we are your experts in the field.
We obviously don’t design clothes, but what we will do, is make sure that when a zip is meant to vanish into a seam, it vanishes into the seam. And when it’s meant to be the detail everyone photographs on the runway, it holds up under lights, movement, and about four hundred phone cameras!
What “colour matched, tested, and out the door” actually involves
It’s easy to say a zip is colour matched and move on. In practice, that covers a fair amount of work happening quietly in the background.
– Spec: a client sends over a reference, a paint chip, a swatch, sometimes just a Pantone number scribbled on a sketch.
– Match: we work the pull tabs, tape colour and finish to that reference, dyed to the customer’s palette rather than picked from an off-the-shelf range, however we do have a huge range of colours in stock so sometimes it can be an even quicker process!
– Sample: a sample goes back for approval before we commit to a full run. Getting it right on paper doesn’t always mean it’s right on fabric under studio lighting.
– Test: the same rigour applies whether the zip will spend its life hidden in a seam or sitting front and centre on a garment. It still has to open and close cleanly, hold its colour, and survive being handled backstage by people moving fast under pressure.
– Turnaround: This can be anything from days to 8 weeks depending on the colour.
None of this is unique to fashion week. It’s the same process behind any bespoke colour matching order we run, workwear, luggage, upholstery, whatever the brief is.
Invisible by design, visible by choice
There are two different jobs a zip does on a fashion garment, and they’re almost opposites. Most of the time, the aim is for it to disappear entirely, seam-matched so closely that nobody clocks there’s a zip there at all. The other job is the reverse: an exposed zip as a deliberate design feature, hardware finished to be looked at rather than hidden. That means the tolerances for how it looks matter just as much as how it performs. Both start from the same manufacturing base: coil or moulded zip chain, tape, slider, and made to the same standard we build everything to.
Why this matters beyond fashion week
It’s tempting to file fashion week under “the glamorous end of the business” and treat everything else as more ordinary. But our customers are all important no matter which industry they are in! The same bespoke colour matching service that gets a runway piece ready in a time constraint is the one we run year round for smaller studios, upholsterers and manufacturers who need a specific brand colour rather than whatever’s sitting on a shelf.
Some FAQs about zip manufacturing
What does “colour matched” mean for a zip?
It means the tape, pull tab and finish are dyed or produced to match a specific reference (a swatch, paint chip or colour code) rather than chosen from a standard colour range, so the zip matches a brand or garment colour exactly.
How quickly can a bespoke colour matched zip order be turned around?
It depends on the brief, and if we have that colour already in stock but it can be anything from days to an 8 week spec-to-sample-to-delivery timeline. Get in touch with your reference and quantities and we’ll confirm a realistic turnaround.
Are colour matched zips tested the same way as standard zips?
Yes. Every zip is manufactured and tested to the BS3084 standard regardless of colour or finish, whether it’s hidden in a seam or on display as a design feature.
London Fashion Week runs 17th – 21st September this year and although it’s probably a little too late for this season, if you’ve got a piece that needs colour matched hardware, on a tight timeline, get in touch!
