Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun art The scheme of two or more colors in which a design is available. It is often used to describe variegated or ombre (shades of one color) print yarns, fabric, or thread. It can also be applied to apparel, to wallpaper and other interior design motifs, and to specifications for printed materials such as magazines or newspapers.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • (One sample colorway is represented above, we'll have detailed photos for you soon!)

    Boing Boing 2007

  • On the cyclingnews.com site not only did they review the $175Rapha "wool" short sleeve summer jersey but they used the word colorway in the review.

    Public Servitude: Making the Streets Safe for Absurdity BikeSnobNYC 2009

  • The colorway is called "Sea Mist," and it does remind me of ocean and sand.

    September 2004 2004

  • The colorway is called "Sea Mist," and it does remind me of ocean and sand.

    Just under the wire 2004

  • (My yarn is the "filigree" colorway, which is currently out of stock, btw.)

    Wendy Knits 2010

  • The sneakers host an Orlando Magic colorway, which is Pietrus 'team, and will most likely not hit stores, which is sad, these are sick enough to send someone into delirium.

    EU Kicks | European Sneaker Magazine 2010

  • The colorway is a simple and timeless combination of white, grey, black and blue.

    NiceKicks.com - Online Magazine for sneaker news, history, & culture 2009

  • The colorway is a definite winner, as for the Fusion series, its growing on me, but I still would rather have my classic Jordans.

    NiceKicks.com - Online Magazine for sneaker news, history, & culture 2009

  • The colorway is a lovely shimmering blue-green and is called Hanauma Bay.

    Wendy Knits 2008

  • Failed breakaway specialist Thomas Voeckler is the human manifestation of dashed hopes and thwarted dreams, and especially when clad in the French Tricolore (for the past 25 years the official "colorway" of unsuccessful Tour de France attempts) he is like unto a vulture, salivating (inasmuch as vultures can salivate, and I defer to any ornithologists on the subject of buzzard drool) at the prospect of impending death:

    The Way We Were: The Future's So "Meh" I Gotta Wear Pom Poms BikeSnobNYC 2010

Comments

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  • This seems like a word of lazy origins. Is there a better word to describe the arrangement of colors?

    December 20, 2009

  • Spectrum?

    December 20, 2009

  • The term palette springs to mind.

    October 11, 2019

  • this is a term of art in apparel and product design and is more an industry-specific hyponym of variant or version than it is particularly related to color theory. In usage it refers almost exclusively to consumer product designs, often shoes, but also, e.g., wetsuits or skeins of yarn. 

    For example, a particular model of shoe may be available in three styles, each identical in form and construction except as regards the colors used: one in red and orange, another in green and white, and the last in black and gray. Each is a colorway

    October 15, 2019

  • A new term for me. Some sample sentences:

    Nike's Air Max line of running shoes is a prime example in which a single model of a shoe is often produced for years, but the color and material combination ( " colorway " ) is changed every few months, or different colorways are offered in different markets.

    Yarn with multiple shades of the same hue are called " omber ", while a yarn with multiple hues may be known as a given " colorway "  a green, red and yellow yarn might be dubbed the " Parrot Colorway " by its manufacturer, for example . " Heathered " yarns contain small amounts of fiber of different colors, while " tweed " yarns may have greater amounts of different colored fibers.

    The firm made wallpaper by block printing, where blocks of wood are carved and printed for each colorway of a design, and fabrics were produced using the indigo-discharge dyeing method, where cloth is stained a deep indigo, then designs are bleached out so that they can be dyed other colors.

    October 16, 2019