RAL 1013

Also known as “electric white” or definitively as RAL 1013. For decades, this shade of white was used for switches, sockets and cable ducts in offices and living rooms. It is probably still predominant there today, as well as on metal railings and wall handles or in sanitary facilities. According to the Duden dictionary, it is a “silvery white colour with cream shading”. However, toothpaste manufacturers who advertise with pearl white do not want to know about this shading. After all, they promise bright white teeth with regular use of their products – which, however, would be unnatural. Pearl white thus embodies something like the realist among white shades – a colour that does not wait for dirt to compromise it. The synonym in circulation, lead white, obtained from toxic lead carbonate, is best disposed of as hazardous waste.

RAL 1013 Pearl white belongs to the group of yellow RAL colours and is clearly different from RAL 9010 Pure white or the really colourless Clean Room white of RAL 9012, which has only been available since 2020.