RAL Colours history

With the introduction of two new shades in the RAL CLASSIC colour collection, the total number of RAL shades now increases to 2,540. The RAL corporate shade of RAL 2017 RAL Orange is standardised for the first time.

RAL COLOURS wins the German Design Award for the fourth time with its innovative design products. The RAL starter kit, which provides easy, fast access to the RAL DESIGN SYSTEM plus is given an award.

A special recognition of the public importance of RAL Colours was our participation in the ARD game show Klein gegen Groß („Little versus Big“) in February 2020. Marlene from Munich succeeded in an exciting TV duel against the colour expert and RAL co-operation partner Prof. Axel Venn. The young pupil immediately recognised five randomly chosen colour shades from the RAL CLASSIC colour collection and was able to directly allocate the correct colour number and colour name to each of them.

With the addition of another distribution partner, the distribution network of RAL COLOURS now includes more than 40 partners worldwide. RAL COLOURS is therefore represented on every continent and supplies more than 150 countries.

The RAL DESIGN SYSTEM is 25 years old, the range of shades is comprehensively reviewed and expanded, new innovative colour design tools come onto the market.

90 years of RAL COLOURS, move from Sankt Augustin to the new RAL building in Bonn. Sustainability becomes the company's guiding principle.

Founding of the RAL ACADEMY as the fifth business division of RAL. The training courses and seminars run by RAL COLOURS are directed at professional colour designers from the fields of architecture, design, skilled trades and industry.

As a non-profit GmbH, RAL feels particularly obliged to provide education and further training to young people. RAL COLOURS becomes a sponsor of the German Deutschlandstipendium at the universities of applied sciences in Hildesheim and Wuppertal. Three years later the Rhein-Sieg university of applied sciences in Sankt Augustin is added to the scheme.

Launch of the digital colour measuring device RAL COLORCATCH NANO. The product is awarded various national and international prizes for its innovative design and its functionality.

The Representative Office in Beijing, China is opened as a visible sign of a continued strategy of internationalisation. RAL COLOURS now supplies 120 countries.

The RAL iCOLOURS app makes colours mobile. Skilled tradesmen and architects can now design their desired item in every RAL colour quickly and easily.

RAL COLOURS are no longer produced as coated samples only. The introduction of plastic colour samples opens up new markets and potential for RAL COLOURS. A total of 300 shades from the RAL CLASSIC and RAL DESIGN SYSTEM product ranges are now available.

At the same time, RAL publishes its first design book called “Farben der Gesundheit” (Colours of health & care). This is associated with the start of the many years of close collaboration with the colour designer Prof. Axel Venn, Berlin. The four design books published so far by RAL have given it a unique position on the market.

RAL Deutsches Institut für Gütesicherung und Kennzeichnung e. V. spins off its RAL COLOURS and Environmental Labellings divisions into the newly founded RAL non-profit GmbH (limited company). This remains a 100% subsidiary of the Association.

Introduction of RAL EFFECT, the new innovative colour range for industry and product design. 420 full water-based shades, expanded by 70 metallic shades open up many new opportunities for designers. The products are the first water-based colour charts.

RAL colour trends are given a name: RAL Colour Feeling. The information on trends is developed in close collaboration with well-known international agencies.

The first version of RAL DIGITAL opens up the virtual world of colours.

The RAL DESIGN SYSTEM is launched onto the market to provide professional colour designers with a comprehensive, systematic colour system. The system includes 1,625 shades and expands the number of clearly defined RAL shades to approximately 1,800.

RAL decides against returning to Berlin when the German Government makes the decision to move from Bonn to Berlin. The company headquarters are moved from Bonn to Sankt Augustin.

RAL starts to build up its own international network of independent distribution partners. At the same time colour design products are also sold from the Bonn site.

Introduction of the high gloss colour primary standard set RAL 841-GL.

The company headquarters moves from Frankfurt am Main to Bonn on the Rhine.

RAL launches two innovative products onto the market, namely the RAL K1 and K5 colour fan. For the first time RAL colours are not coded as a colour number, but also include descriptive colour names.

RAL regains its independence. The umbrella organisations for business, consumers, the Federal and Federal State authorities as well as four ordinary members of RAL, who are elected by the meeting of members, have since formed the advisory body of RAL. The board of trustees reflects the balance of the business partners involved and demonstrates the neutrality of RAL.

RAL is incorporated in the German Standards Committee (Deutscher Normenausschuss, DNA) and acts as the Imperial Committee for Delivery Conditions at the DNA over the next few years. The DNA is based in Berlin, RAL moves to Frankfurt am Main.

Winding-up of RAL by the National Socialists and forced transfer of colour standardisation into state structures.

Start of production of RAL colour cards in collaboration with the company Hans Hansen-Schmidt. The successor company Muster-Schmidt takes over the sole distribution of RAL colour cards until into the 1980s and still remains a RAL distribution partner today.

Against this background, RAL begins standardising the first RAL colour cards. The RAL CLASSIC collection initially includes 40 shades which are specified in the RAL 840-HR colour register. The registered office of the Imperial Committee for Delivery Conditions is Berlin.

RAL is founded as “Reichsausschuss für Lieferbedingungen” (RAL, Imperial Committee for Delivery Conditions). The committee is initially part of the “Reichskuratorium für Wirtschaftlichkeit” (RKW, Imperial Board of Trustees for Economic Efficiency), but later achieves the status of a registered association and therefore its independence. During this initial period, the focus is on the RAL registrations and RAL agreements in particular because the German economy needed technical delivery conditions which could be used as rationalisation measures in the economy.