X‑Rite Pantone launches global textile roadshow to modernize color workflows, cut waste

X‑Rite Pantone announced on February 23, 2026 that it is rolling out a global textile industry roadshow of virtual and in‑person sessions to help apparel, footwear and soft‑goods brands, mills and color labs transition from analog color approval practices to integrated, data‑driven digital color workflows. The program is positioned explicitly to modernize textile color workflows and reduce waste across supply chains that still rely on physical swatches and repeated sampling.

The company said the roadshow will focus on practical, operational change. "Color laboratories are at a turning point," said Ryan Stanley, Director of Product Management for Textile, X‑Rite Pantone. He added, "Digital color is no longer just a technical upgrade. It is a strategic shift. By adopting integrated, data-driven color management solutions, organizations can achieve measurable business gains while advancing their sustainability goals." Those comments framed Stanley’s presentation track at industry events this spring.

At the AATCC Coloration Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina, held February 24 to 25, Stanley presented the session titled "Modernizing Color Labs for Future Demands." The talk explored how visualization, digitalization, and virtualization are transforming color design, specification, and evaluation, and highlighted how digital standards and reflectance data can enable faster approvals, improved consistency, and reduced sampling cycles. The AATCC appearance was the first publicly listed stop in the spring schedule tied to the roadshow announcement.

X‑Rite Pantone is bringing established tooling to the push. The company’s Textile Color Hub and the PANTORA desktop application are positioned as the specification and approval engines for soft goods, apparel, and footwear, while the eXact 2 handheld spectrophotometer represents the field measurement hardware; X‑Rite’s timeline notes that eXact 2 won the Pinnacle Intertech Award. Those products join PantoneLIVE cloud‑based color standards, the CXF file format introduced in 2009, and earlier moves into cosmetics measurement with CAPSURE and the Pantone SkinTone Guide as part of a multi‑decade technology stack.

The roadshow comes as X‑Rite Pantone sits within a longer corporate arc: the company merged with GretagMacbeth in 2006, acquired Pantone in 2007, announced PantoneLIVE in 2012 after joining Danaher in 2012, and became part of Veralto Corporation in 2023. X‑Rite now serves sectors beyond textiles, including design, automotive, paints, and plastics, giving the roadshow relevance for color consistency across materials and categories.

For brands and mills that still budget for repeated dye lots and physical sampling, the program offers a clear alternative: adopt integrated, data‑driven standards to shorten approval cycles and cut the physical waste tied to iterative sampling. X‑Rite Pantone is staging both virtual and in‑person workshops this spring to walk manufacturers through those workflows; for more information, consult X‑Rite Pantone’s website or connect with the company on LinkedIn and Facebook. The push signals a practical step toward a less wasteful color pipeline, and a measurable way for brands to modernize how garments actually get made.