Colour Reflective Fabric

Normal reflective fabric returns silver-grey light. This one returns the light in a colour, so the reflective element can match or complement the garment instead of reading as a standard safety trim. The retroreflective mechanism is the same in both cases.

No. No retroreflective material emits light. It returns light back toward the source, so it appears bright when a headlight, torch or camera flash is aimed at it and stays dark otherwise. If the requirement is to be seen with no light source at all, that is a phosphorescent material, not a reflective one.

Each colour has its own daytime appearance. Red, white and black read as those colours on a textile; the fluorescent shades read as high-visibility orange-red and yellow. In every case the reflective return is a separate behaviour that only appears under a light.

Matching is done against a physical sample approved at order stage, not against a screen value. Send the garment swatch or its reference and the closest available colourway is proposed; where an exact match is not available, the nearest option is shown next to your sample so the decision is made on real material.

The five colourways on this page — red, white, black, fluorescent orange-red and fluorescent yellow — are the range listed. Other colours depend on the base material and the quantity, so they are quoted case by case rather than listed here.

Yes. The colour sits in front of the reflective layer, so it absorbs light on the way in and again on the way out. Directly pigmented colour returns around 60–70 cd/(lx·m²), and the figure moves from batch to batch, so read it as a range rather than a guaranteed value. That is well below the 330 cd/(lx·m²) that EN ISO 20471 sets for retroreflective material, which means a coloured fabric cannot carry a 20471 claim on its own, however the garment is designed. Where the standard itself is the requirement, the reflective element is chosen for the standard rather than for colour. Colour is a daylight and design decision, and it is worth selecting on that basis.

Both routes are used. Sewing suits panels and trims that get heavy wear; heat application suits clean flat areas and needs a press setting confirmed for the specific build, because the colour layer and the adhesive are affected differently by heat.

Wash performance is confirmed per build against the wash programme supplied with the order. Abrasion is the main risk to both the colour layer and the reflective layer, so on high-wear areas the placement and the stitching matter as much as the material itself.

We manufacture it. Colour reflective fabric is produced at our own factory and supplied direct for workwear, PPE and road safety programmes. That is why the colourway approved on your sample is the colourway that repeats on the order, and why a change of base or width is a production decision rather than a sourcing one.

Two to four weeks from confirmed specification for standard builds. Custom work - a colourway outside the five listed, a non-standard width, or a specified base - is quoted with its own date. Quantity affects scheduling, so the exact date is confirmed with the quotation.