Determining the true color of a shoe can be surprisingly complicated. At first glance, it may seem obvious – just look at the shoe and see what color it is! However, there are a few factors that make pinning down the exact color more difficult than it initially appears.
First, shoes come in a wide variety of materials, finishes, and designs that can alter their visual color. A smooth leather shoe will look different than a textured nubuck shoe in the same base color. Matte, metallic, patent, and other finishes also influence the way light reflects off the shoe, changing the way we perceive the color. Even the shape of the shoe, with contours, overlays, and details, impacts the shades that are visible from different angles.
Second, colors can change over time as shoes are worn and begin to age. Leather and suede will gradually lighten with wear and develop a patina. Materials like rubber and foam can yellow over time. The accumulation of dirt, scuffs, polishes, and conditioners also alters the original color. A shoe fresh out of the box may look markedly different after a few weeks of wear.
Finally, color perception is highly subjective and dependent on lighting conditions. The same shoe can appear different under cool fluorescent light versus warm sunlight. And color blindness, common in about 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women, affects the ability to distinguish certain shades. Two people with normal color vision may still see a color differently based on thousands of tiny variations in their eyes’ cone cells.
So what determines the real, underlying color of a shoe? Let’s explore some techniques that can help uncover the shoe’s true hue.
Looking at Manufacturing Specifications
Shoe brands decide on colors years in advance as part of their product development process. While the color names they assign may not always be helpful, the numeric color codes used in manufacturing can give the definitive formulation for each style.
Pantone is one of the most popular standardized color matching systems used in shoe production and many other industries. The Pantone Matching System includes over 1,700 numbered solid colors that enable consistent reproduction across different materials and finishes. Common Pantone colors for shoes include 14-0958 TCX “Burnt Henna” and 19-4052 TCX “Classic Blue.”
Shoe brands maintain internal style guides and physical color swatch books that list the exact Pantone colors used each season. So for any given shoe, there is a specific Pantone color code that represents the true, original color. Accessing these manufacturing specs requires getting information directly from the brand, but it provides the closest approximation to the scientific formulation of the color.
Digitally Scanning the Color
Visual color perception introduces all kinds of subjective variables. But measuring color digitally can filter out those biases.
Advanced spectrophotometers and colorimeters detect the precise wavelengths of light reflected off physical objects. These devices output numeric lab values that unambiguously describe the color. For example, a lab reading for a red shoe may determine values of L=45, a=51, b=32 on the CIE L*a*b* color space.
Special camera equipment and software can also accurately sample colors from images or video. By digitally averaging the color of the entire shoe, this eliminates effects from uneven lighting or shadows. Digital color picking gives an objective readout of the color as it appears in real-world conditions.
The limitation of digital scanning is that it requires having the physical shoe in hand, along with access to advanced color measurement tools. However, it provides reliable data to complement visual assessment by the human eye.
| Color | Pantone | Lab Values |
|---|---|---|
| Navy | 19-4023 | L=32, a=-5, b=-10 |
| Red | 18-1763 | L=45, a=51, b=32 |
Comparing to an Identical Sample
When trying to color match an existing shoe, one of the best references is an identical style in the same colorway. This accounts for the impacts of material, texture, finish, aging, and lighting conditions. By putting the original and sample side by side, minute differences in hue and chroma become more apparent.
Shoe manufacturers use physical color standards to compare to new batches of leather, suede, mesh, foam, rubber, and other materials. This verifies that each component matches the target color during production.
For aftermarket testing, brands may provide access to a sample set of the exact shoe being evaluated. Otherwise, finding a brand new version of the same shoe and color provides the ideal point of comparison. The closer the match, the closer it comes to the intended color.
Getting Color Description from the Brand
Going directly to the source, shoe brands have access to the most authoritative information on their products’ colors. The internal team thatselected the colors years ago likely has physical samples and detailed specifications for each style.
By providing the name, model number, year, and any other identifying details about a shoe, the brand can look up the definitive color description for that item. This may include:
– Official color name – for example, “Midnight Navy” or “Chocolate Brown”
– Color codes – such as Pantone, CMYK, RGB, or lab values
– Verbal descriptions – like “rich blue with purple undertones” or “muted orange-tan”
– Photos of the original color swatches
– Details on the materials, finishes, and special treatments
Reaching out to customer service or social media representatives will yield the best detail on the product color. The brand that made the shoe will have the inside scoop straight from the source.
Conclusion
A shoe’s true color is more complex than it may first appear. But by triangulating clues from manufacturing specs, digital scans, physical comparisons, and brands themselves, we can get to the heart of a shoe’s hue. The real color lives somewhere amid all of these perspectives.
Next time you ask, “what color is this shoe?” consider the Pantone code, precise lab readings, side-by-side examples, and descriptions straight from the source. Their insights reflect different but equally valid dimensions of the same color. Just like the proverbial blind men feeling different parts of an elephant, we each contribute a piece of the truth.
