HEX to TCX Converter
Enter a HEX color to find the closest Pantone TCX (Textile Cotton eXtended) match. Matching uses Delta E 2000 against a curated 50-color benchmark set covering all 27 Color of the Year picks plus 21 additional Fashion, Home + Interiors codes. Top five matches are ranked by perceptual similarity. Results are visual approximations — verify with physical TCX swatches before production.
What is HEX to TCX conversion?
HEX is a hexadecimal notation for sRGB screen colors, used throughout web design and digital product work. TCX (Textile Cotton eXtended) is Pantone's color system for apparel, textiles, and home furnishings — the reference standard for fashion designers, garment manufacturers, and interior designers specifying fabric and soft goods. The two systems describe different media: HEX describes light emitted by a screen, TCX describes pigment reflected off cotton fabric.
Converting between them is an approximation. HEX maps to exactly one RGB triplet, which maps to one approximate TCX match — but that match does not survive physical production because the substrate change (screen to fabric) introduces differences no digital conversion can eliminate. For design exploration and initial color direction, the match is useful. For production specification, always verify against a physical TCX swatch.
How the conversion works
The HEX is converted to RGB, then to CIELAB. Delta E 2000 is computed between the input LAB and each TCX color's LAB, and the top five matches by lowest Delta E are returned. Delta E 2000 is the current CIE standard for perceptual color difference — it accounts for the fact that the eye is more sensitive to some hue regions than others, and it produces more accurate matches than the older Delta E 1976 metric.
Accuracy and limitations
- Subset, not the full library. Our TCX reference covers 50 benchmark codes out of the full ~2,300-color library. An exact match against the full library may exist but is not in our set.
- Screen vs fabric. HEX describes emitted light, TCX describes pigment on cotton. Even a ΔE 0 match on screen will look different in physical reality.
- Ambient lighting. TCX swatches look different under daylight, fluorescent, incandescent, and store lighting. Verify under the actual lighting where the fabric will be used.
- Verify against physical swatches. For any production decision, use Pantone's FHI Color Guide or Pantone Connect — not a screen-based tool.
Use cases
- Fashion design to digital. A HEX-specified digital color needs a TCX match to communicate to fabric suppliers.
- Digital product mockups. Showing a digital design on a textile or garment mockup needs the color translated to TCX.
- Brand identity extension. A brand designed in HEX needs TCX equivalents for uniforms, apparel, and merchandise.
- Print-to-textile workflows. When the same brand appears on paper and on fabric, HEX to TCX is the translation step.
Common mistakes
- Using the closest match as the exact equivalent — no HEX-TCX equivalence exists, only visual approximation.
- Comparing screen color to fabric under mixed lighting — always use neutral 5000K daylight for accurate judgment.
- Forgetting the benchmark subset limitation for critical work — the full TCX library may have a closer match than our 50-color set.
- Confusing TCX with TPG or TPX — these are different systems and the codes are not always interchangeable.
- Ignoring the difference between coated and uncoated behavior — TCX is closer to a "coated" reference behavior in appearance than an uncoated print reference.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert HEX to TCX?
Enter a HEX code (or use the color picker) and the converter finds the closest TCX (Pantone Textile Cotton eXtended) match from our 50-color benchmark library. Matching is done with Delta E 2000 — the current CIE standard for perceptual color difference. The top five TCX matches are shown with their hex values and Delta E scores.
Is HEX to TCX conversion exact?
No. HEX describes an sRGB screen color, while TCX describes a physical Pantone textile swatch. Every HEX value maps to one RGB triplet, which the converter then matches to the nearest TCX code — but that match is a visual approximation, not an exact physical correspondence. For fabric production, always verify against physical TCX swatches before ordering.
What is TCX?
TCX (Textile Cotton eXtended) is Pantone's color system for apparel, textiles, and home furnishings. Each TCX code follows the format XX-YYYY, where the first two digits encode lightness and the four digits encode hue and chroma. Examples: 19-4052 (Classic Blue 2020), 11-4201 (Cloud Dancer 2026). TCX is the global standard for fashion and textile color specifications.
Why only 50 TCX colors on this site?
The full TCX library contains more than 2,300 colors. Our reference covers 50 benchmark codes: all 27 Color of the Year picks from 2000–2026, plus 21 additional Fashion, Home + Interiors (FHI) benchmarks. This covers the TCX codes that are most widely searched and most commonly referenced. For the full library, Pantone sells the FHI Color Guide (physical) and Pantone Connect (digital).
Can I use this for fabric production?
Use it as a starting point for design exploration, not as a production specification. Every TCX code on this site is an approximation, and the physical swatch may differ meaningfully from what you see on screen. For production work, verify against physical TCX swatches (in Pantone's FHI Color Guide), and confirm the color under the actual lighting conditions where the fabric will be used.