Color Fastness Grading System for Textile Industry Using CIEL*a*b Color Space

This research paper focuses on the use of CIEL*a*b color space in determining the color fastness difference of a sample fabric and comparing it to the standard reference fabric’s desired color by calculating the delta E values. This is done by taking a sample fabric image and then converting its image pixels into CIEL*a*b color space, comparing with a reference image already stored in the database resulting deltaE value which indicates the level of relevance of the color fastness between the two images. In this way, a sample fabric can be categorized into grade 1, grade 2 or grade 3 fabrics according to its color relevance deltaE value and the result is displayed on the screen using MATLAB. Grade 1 fabric has extremely low values of delta E and is guaranteed to possess perfect quality measures for color fastness whereas grade 2 fabric shows a slight difference in color shade. On the other hand, the grade 3 fabric indicates the presence of a totally distinctive color shade from the standard color. This system is tested using different images from the database e.g. monochromatic fabrics as well as the multicolored printed fabrics.