Many people think that the red Santa suit that we know and love today was created by Coca-Cola. While the canny advertising teams that developed Coke’s festive campaigns in the 1930s are partly responsible for fixing this image in our minds, the red colour mostly derives from the original Saint Nicholas.
Red and white are the traditional colours of a bishop’s robe, and old St Nick was the Bishop of Myra in the 4th century AD. He is most remembered for his kindness to children, and the myth of Father Christmas developed from this throughout Europe – with our modern-day version stemming from the Dutch legend of ‘Sinterklaas’, brought to international renown in the 19th century.
It has been argued by many historians that the traditional red and white robes of the Santa suit were actually tan and white, as the vibrant red we see today would not have been possible with the coloration technology at the time.
Santa’s suit as we know it was probably first developed by cartoonist Thomas Nast in 1870, with earlier Nast sketches even portraying Santa Claus in stars and stripes. Prior to this, there were many variations including brown, and even yellow in an 1864 edition of ‘The Night Before Christmas’.
But one question for dyers remains — how do we keep up with the changing colours of Santa, and how can we continue to achieve that iconic red in today’s modern dyehouse?
Andrew Filarowski, technical director at the Society of Dyers and Colourists, has the answers:
It is all very well talking about the colours of Santa, but what is the garment made of? Is it cotton, polyester, or wool? This is crucial when deciding how to properly dye a fabric.
You’d expect it to be woollen, in the cold climate of the North Pole, but does he have a cotton suit that he switches to as he nears warmer climes? Maybe he has moved with the times and now sports a polyester material that is appropriate for all weathers.
It seems he has used the suit for a long time, so it must have been expertly dyed to still be the vibrant red we know and love. Whoever designed it would have provided a specification for the actual colour, and its fastness.
The dyer would have also had to take into account the reflectance data, the unique fingerprint that every colour has depending on the light that shines on it, for his suit.
A knowledge of different dyes that can be used on both cotton and wool, as well as what will provide the required fastness, would have been critical. Red is notoriously difficult to get a good fastness with, as evidenced by one stray red sock dyeing your entire laundry load pink.
A skilled dyer would have been appointed to make sure the right dye was used for the right fibre i.e. cotton or wool, as there is no ‘one size fits all’. For example, reactive dyes would be needed for cotton, acid dyes for wool, and disperse dyes for polyester.
The dye would also need certain properties based on the materials, and be applied using sound chemical practices to ensure Santa’s suit is not only a beautiful colour, but that it also stays that way.
We’d also assume that Santa is concerned about the environment and as such, would have chosen a dyer that uses chemicals and processes that are eco-friendly — which requires in-depth scientific knowledge.
All of this specialist expertise needs to be considered in the making of Santa’s suit, which is why we’re certain that a dyer with an advanced skill set and years of experience was involved in this very important task.
We like to think that when he is the market for a new one, a Society of Dyers and Colourists trained dyer will be selected for the job — as all of this knowledge is imparted on our ASDC course.
You can learn all you need to know about keeping Santa red, and about the scientific processes behind creating dyes and applying them to fibres and fabrics, on the SDC’s colour education pathway.
It begins with the entry-level Foundation Textile Coloration Certificate (FTCC), followed by the Textile Coloration Certificate (TCC), and finally, the degree-equivalent Associate of the Society of Dyers and Colourists (ASDC). Course fees are £1,605 for FTCC, £5,350 for TCC, and £12,000 for ADSC.
08/12/2020