What is Gamut?
Also known as: Color gamut
The complete range of colors a device or color space can reproduce. sRGB, AdobeRGB, ProPhoto RGB, CMYK, and Pantone all have different gamuts. Textile work hits gamut limits regularly.
In detail
Gamut defines what a device or system can produce. The visible color spectrum is the maximum gamut; every device covers some subset. sRGB (the standard monitor space) covers ~35% of the visible spectrum. AdobeRGB extends sRGB by ~25% in greens and cyans. ProPhoto RGB covers most of the visible gamut but exceeds what any monitor can display. CMYK printing covers ~70% of sRGB — colors outside CMYK (vibrant oranges, deep reds, electric blues) cannot be reproduced via overprint. Pantone TCX covers the textile gamut on cotton; gamuts differ on silk, polyester, wool. Understanding gamut limits prevents designers from working in colors that look great on screen but are unreproducible on the destination fabric. Gamut limits matter because the same digital design renders different on different output devices: a vibrant magenta that displays correctly in AdobeRGB on a calibrated monitor may exceed the cotton-fabric gamut and print as a muted version. Soft-proofing using the destination ICC profile before production handoff catches gamut clipping at the design stage.
Example
A designer creates a vibrant teal in AdobeRGB on a wide-gamut monitor. CMYK conversion clips it to a duller cyan-green; the printed fabric matches the dulled version. The design would have shipped with a color the print partner cannot reproduce — caught at proof stage if checked, shipped wrong if not.