More Than Color: How Milliken’s Liquitint® Portfolio Solves Real Formulation Challenges

Color is often one of the final elements considered in product formulation, but for many manufacturers, it quickly becomes one of the most complex. Stability, regulatory requirements, compatibility with base formulations, and consistency at scale all play a role in whether a color performs as intended in the real world.

At Milliken, color is treated differently. It’s viewed as a critical performance component and a problem to be solved collaboratively. That philosophy is embedded in Liquitint®, Milliken’s portfolio of liquid colorants engineered to meet the technical, regulatory, and operational demands of modern formulations.

Few people understand that balance better than Eduardo Torres, Sr Global Product Line Manager, Performance Colorants and Ingredients, who has spent more than two decades working with the portfolio from development through commercialization.

What Is Liquitint and Why the Portfolio Exists

Liquitint is Milliken’s family of liquid, water-soluble colorants designed to deliver consistent, stable color across a wide range of applications. The portfolio is built around polymeric color technology that is non-staining, easy to dose, and engineered for compatibility with complex formulations.

While customers can purchase Liquitint products as-is, the portfolio was intentionally developed to support customization when needed.

“We create any color a customer needs and ensure it stays stable in their application,” Torres explains. “Our Liquitint portfolio exists to solve real formulation problems.”

That problem-solving mindset is what differentiates Liquitint from commodity colorants. Rather than offering a static catalog of options, Milliken approaches color as a system—one that can be adapted to specific performance, regulatory, and processing requirements.

Inside the Liquitint Portfolio

At a high level, Liquitint includes liquid colorants engineered for performance, processability, and regulatory alignment across consumer and industrial applications. Within the portfolio, there are several key offerings designed to address distinct needs:

• Liquitint®: Water-soluble, polymeric liquid colorants designed for ease of use, non-staining performance, and vibrant visual impact.
• Liquitint VeraFree™: biocide-free, water-soluble colorant developed to anticipate evolving regulatory requirements and support preservative-free formulations.
• Liquitint™ SureChoice: EPA-aligned colorants recognized in North America, helping manufacturers meet preferred regulatory standards.
• Agricultural colorants: Engineered for safe use in seed treatment, crop protection, and spray indicator applications.

Rather than forcing customers into predefined solutions, Milliken works with formulators to determine which product, or combination of technologies, best aligns with their goals.

“It always comes back to understanding what the customer is trying to accomplish,” says Torres. “Once we understand the problem, we can determine how the portfolio should work for them.”

Applications: Where Liquitint Comes to Life

Liquitint’s versatility is reflected in where it appears—often in places consumers never think about but immediately recognize.

“Liquitint shows up everywhere,” Torres notes. “From detergents and cleaners to agriculture, industrial products, spray indicators, and even the blue water you see in ponds.”

Key application areas include:

• Laundry and home care: Liquid detergents, fabric softeners, toilet care products, and cleaners
• Industrial and institutional products: Cleaners, disinfectants, and specialty formulations
• Agriculture: Seed treatments, spray pattern indicators, and crop protection products
• Infrastructure and outdoor use: Ice melt products, water features, and ponds

In many of these applications, color serves a functional purpose—signaling coverage, ensuring proper application, or reinforcing brand recognition and emotion—making consistency and stability critical.

The Milliken Difference: Color Plus Partnership

While Liquitint products can be purchased directly, Milliken’s greatest value often emerges through collaboration. Many formulation challenges don’t stem from color alone; they arise when a color interacts with fragrances, bases, processing conditions, or regulatory constraints.

“With Liquitint, you’re not just getting color—you’re getting a partner,” Torres says. “We work with customers to ensure the color performs exactly as it should.”

Milliken’s technical teams routinely support customers by:

• Conducting stability and compatibility testing
• Troubleshooting formulation changes
• Identifying root causes when performance issues arise
• Supporting regulatory and quality requirements

In some cases, what appears to be a color issue is driven by a change elsewhere in the formulation. Milliken’s service model allows those challenges to be identified and resolved before they become costly problems.

“Our value isn’t just in the color,” Torres explains. “It’s in the quality, service and responsiveness we bring to help customers succeed.”

Proven Through Collaboration

Milliken’s partnership-driven approach to color has been recognized by some of the world’s most trusted brands.

In 2020, Henkel recognized Milliken for its contributions to sustainability in the Laundry & Home Care category, highlighting two new dyes used in toilet care products that were free from the preservative MIT. Milliken has also collaborated with Procter & Gamble on award-winning laundry technologies, including work recognized with an R&D 100 Award.

These recognitions underscore a consistent theme: meaningful innovation happens when technical expertise and customer collaboration come together.

Color as Emotion, Impact, and Differentiation

Beyond performance, Liquitint plays a powerful role in how products are perceived.

“Liquitint brings products to life,” Torres reflects. “It’s not just color—it’s emotion, impact, and the power to transform how someone feels.”

Whether signaling cleanliness, reinforcing trust, or differentiating a brand on shelf, color shapes the user experience in subtle but lasting ways. Milliken’s approach ensures that impact is intentional, reliable, and scalable.

A Partner for What Comes Next

For formulators and manufacturers navigating evolving regulations, increasing performance expectations, and competitive markets, color can’t be an afterthought.

Liquitint offers more than a portfolio of colorants; it offers confidence that color will perform as intended, supported by a team committed to long-term partnership and problem solving.

Because at Milliken, color isn’t just added to a formulation. It’s designed together.