OEM & ODM stainless steel drinkware from our own factory in Zhejiang — MOQ 500 pcs, samples in 3–7 days.
Get QuoteHead To Head
One shade the whole way round, or a fade that has to repeat exactly.
Side By Side
| What changes | Solid colour | Gradient finish |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | One flat shade across the whole body, sprayed or powder coated to a matched reference. | Two or more shades blended across one body through a mask, so the colour changes from top to bottom. |
| What has to be held | The shade itself, piece to piece and batch to batch. | The transition line and where it sits, which is a registration question rather than a colour question. |
| Cost | The cheaper of the two, because there is one pass and one mask at most. | Higher: more passes, more masking and more handling per piece. |
| Repeat orders | The reference can be re-matched against a stored chip and a limit sample. | The mask position is part of the specification, so the approved limit sample travels with the item number. |
| Where it can go wrong | Batch-to-batch shade drift on a long run, which is why chips are approved before the run. | Registration drift between runs. The fade can be right in colour and wrong in position. |
| The honest summary | Right for almost every programme, and the default when colour is the brand asset. | Right when the fade is the product idea, and worth it only if the repeat order will carry the same mask. |
Deciding
Asked Before You Order
The short answer is at the top of this page and the two lists below spell it out: choose Solid colour when the first three conditions on its list are true, and Gradient finish when they are true of the other. If neither list reads like your programme, that is a useful answer too — send the requirement and we will say which of the two it actually is rather than sell you the dearer one.
It can. The published windows are samples in 3–7 days and production in 10–25 days after sample approval, and a route that needs a component the plant does not hold, or a material with a narrower mill supply, sits at the longer end of that rather than outside it. It is worth confirming the specific combination rather than assuming the generic window.
Usually, yes, and it is a sensible way to test the market: a small run of each, judged on the same shelf. What it changes is the minimum, because the minimum applies per colour and per setup rather than per order — so two routes can mean two minimums.
It moves it in a direction this page can name without quoting a number: gradient finish is the cheaper route unless the programme needs a feature only solid colour provides. Unit cost is quoted against the body, the decoration, the quantity and the destination, so the honest comparison is between two quotations on the same brief.
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