Supply chain leaders are forming partnerships to advance efficient technologies. On Wednesday, YKK Corporation and color solutions provider Coloro announced a collaboration to minimize trial and error in translating colors from design to physical materials. The companies presented joint matching and feasibility results for Coloro colors applied to YKK zippers.
These results are accessible through Coloro Feasibility Intelligence, a proprietary platform that offers automated color health checks and optimizations. The platform provides sustainability checks covering alternative color processes, chemical compliance, and circularity data.
CFI aims to connect physical and digital workflows. It supplies over 2.5 million verified feasibility and sustainability data points derived from physical dyeing and testing on various substrates. YKK zipper matching data has now been added to the system.
"By integrating YKK zippers into the CFI system, users are empowered to make reliable, data-backed color decisions at the design stage, reducing wasted time and costs on color matching and development in the supply chain," stated Detlev Pross, Coloro's chief strategy officer.
Takayuki Kato, VP of the global marketing group at YKK Corporation, said the partnership demonstrates the company's focus on innovation, sustainability, and industry efficiency. "At YKK, we believe that color accuracy and feasibility are critical to enabling true digital transformation in the fashion supply chain," Kato remarked. "By collaborating with Coloro and integrating our zipper color data into the Coloro Feasibility Intelligence platform, we are helping designers and brands make confident, data-driven color decisions from the earliest stages of design."
In a separate development, specialty chemicals firm Archroma and Swiss materials innovator HeiQ have joined forces to promote functional textiles and sustainable fibers. The companies have entered a co-marketing agreement that leverages their complementary strengths to deliver advanced anti-odor and antimicrobial technologies to brands, retailers, and textile mills.
This collaboration allows HeiQ's technologies to be distributed through Archroma's global customer network, facilitating the integration of functional, compliant, and sustainable performance effects into textile products.
Archroma's offerings include clean sulfur black dyes, nature-derived color solutions, and aniline-free indigo technologies. Last year, ten of its product groups achieved Cradle to Cradle Certified Material Health Gold level under Version 4.0 of the standard. HeiQ's innovations range from fabrics that respond to skin temperature changes to advanced odor-control solutions.
"HeiQ has always been driven by a mission to pioneer deeptech material innovation for people and planet," said Carlo Centonze, CEO of HeiQ. "Together with Archroma's extensive network and expertise, we are scaling our technologies globally, ensuring that brands and mills can access functional, sustainable solutions that enhance product performance while lowering environmental impact."
The alliance focuses on scaling innovation. The companies aim to help brands and manufacturers meet consumer demands for hygiene, freshness, and sustainability.
"By uniting our global reach and application know-how with HeiQ's powerful innovation engine, we are bringing high-performance, sustainable technologies to more customers and accelerating the industry's transition towards a more planet-conscious textile value chain," said Dhirendra Gautam, VP commercial at Archroma.