One Khaki, Two Constructions: Matching Shirt and Trouser Across a Force Rollout

Scale

District-wide rollout, shirting and trouser ordered on separate cycles

The challenge

Shirting and trouser cloth were sourced on separate tenders and separate cycles, so each was approved on its own against a written shade name rather than against the other. On parade in daylight the shirt read greener than the trouser, and every reorder cycle reset the problem because neither supplier had the other's cloth to match against.

Our approach

• We treated the two garments as one shade problem rather than two orders. The shirting was fixed first on a stocked khaki from the Commander PV Ultima shade card, so the shirt shade became a physical reference held at the mill instead of a word on a specification.
• The trouser cloth was then matched to that shirting swatch as its own custom lot, with lab dips approved side by side under the same light before the bulk lot was run. Because a shirting and a suiting are different constructions, the same recipe does not read the same on both, so the approval was made on the pair and not on either cloth alone.
• Both references were kept on file at the mill, and each subsequent cycle was dyed against them rather than against the last delivery. Where the programme needed a fitted cut for office and traffic roles, the stocked khaki on our stretch quality was matched into the same reference set so a third construction did not restart the exercise.

<a href="https://www.bennycotts.com/case-studies/police-force-one-khaki-across-shirt-and-trouser">One Khaki, Two Constructions: Matching Shirt and Trouser Across a Force Rollout</a>, Benny Cotts, 2026

Updated 13 August 2026 · Benny Cotts, Bhilwara