Not Black Enough

[Jules]

If your black clothes aren’t all the same shade, throw them in the washer together a few times and they’ll eventually end up about the same. A salesman told me that about some blue & black socks that I bought. It didn’t take long before they blended together.

 

[Paco Dennis]

"Here's a minimalist illustration by Wikipedia user Dodek. The gray bar across the center is actually one constant color:"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...l-illusions-show-how-color-can-trick-the-eye/

 

[Murrmurr]

Decades ago when you bought an article of clothing that was supposed to be black...it was jet black. Now it seems "black" is more often really a dark charcoal gray. I don't know what happened to the dyes but I prefer my black be jet black. Have you noticed the same thing with your (allegedly) black garments? I bet ya'll thought this post was going to be about something else.

I did. And I've been called out for not being black enough.

I wonder if garment makers are using a cheaper dye, or found it's cheaper to mix dark colors to make black-ish dye, or if jet black dye was found to be harmful?

 

[horseless carriage]

I wonder if garment makers are using a cheaper dye, or found it's cheaper to mix dark colors to make black-ish dye, or if jet black dye was found to be harmful?

Harmful? If that were so the world's leather tanners would have probably had some sort of disease named after them. How many squillions of black shoes are there in the world?

 

[Murrmurr]

Harmful? If that were so the world's leather tanners would have probably had some sort of disease named after them. How many squillions of black shoes are there in the world?

Good point.

 

[feywon]

"Here's a minimalist illustration by Wikipedia user Dodek. The gray bar across the center is actually one constant color:"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...l-illusions-show-how-color-can-trick-the-eye/

The trick is accomplished by the fact the background is not 'one color', and the fault doesn't lay with the eye, but rather the brain--as it does with all illusions--our brain is constantly 'interpreting' the data our senses provide--there are learned habits, in some cases outright biases that lead to inaccurate conclusions about what the data says. Many if not most of these habits of thought are instilled/learned so early in life we are often unaware of them until exposed to something that reveals it.

 

[Sassycakes]

Ya got me there.
I was reminded of a black co-worker. She was married & had 2 kids. We were chatting about race, relations, family, etc.
She said something about her mother-in-law that really surprised (and amused) me. Her mother-in-law said the children were "too dark" & she constantly encouraged them to go swimming at her house because she thought the chlorine would lighten their skin color.
Unbelievable!

You reminded me of when I was growing up. My brother and sister had darker skin than I
do. So even though I am Italian they called me Pollock. Too bad they never had a cure for being light-skinned.

 

[OneEyedDiva]

"Here's a minimalist illustration by Wikipedia user Dodek. The gray bar across the center is actually one constant color:"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...l-illusions-show-how-color-can-trick-the-eye/

I've seen illusions like this. In fact, there was a T.V. program in which a man invited people to discern the differences. In reality, what they perceived to be a darker part (of a "two piece" rounded object) was actually the same color as the lighter section, but the bend in the object caused the illusion.

 

[Gary O']

I spent most of my career in the apparel industry. Here's the straight skinny on clothing colors:

Unless the same brand is purchased from a coordinated separates or other apparel group "story," shade matching isn't a consideration, even within a manufacturer's offering.

Pantone colors (the gold standard for color matching and identification) contains over 15,000 distinct shades in its database.

Even white isn't standardized. Black isn't black. Grey isn't grey. Navy isn't navy.
Truth is, they never have been.