What is Saturation?
Also known as: Chroma
The purity or intensity of a color. High saturation = vivid, pure hue. Low saturation = muted, washed-out, closer to gray. Independent of hue and lightness.
In detail
Saturation describes how far a color is from neutral gray. Pure spectral colors (a single wavelength) have maximum saturation; mixing in white, black, or the complementary color reduces saturation. Textile printing rarely produces fully saturated colors — fabric absorbs and scatters light, losing saturation versus the digital design file. Design at 90% saturation, expect 70-80% on fabric. Polyester satin holds saturation better than cotton voile (smoother surface = less scattering); silk holds it best (highest specular reflectance). Designers often boost saturation in the design file by 10-15% to compensate for substrate loss. High-saturation colors are technically harder to reproduce on textile because dye chemistry has gamut limits beyond which saturation cannot increase regardless of dye concentration. Pantone TCX includes muted versions of bright colors specifically because the original saturation cannot survive the dye process; designers should check TCX matches before committing to high-saturation digital colors that may not print as designed.
Example
A coral floral designed at saturation 85 prints on cotton voile at saturation ~72 (visible drop, looks slightly dusty). The same design boosted to saturation 95 in the file prints at saturation ~80 — closer to the designer's intent.