I was able to get my hands on the swatch of leftover Zam neoprene this weekend and have permission to post photos. I came prepared - I brought a swatch of the Zam I Am neoprene to compare and I also brought my Pantone Guide for Fashion and Home.
Here is the comparison photo:
No Flash:
I would have to say that the Zam-I-Am fabric is quite a bit brighter than the true stuff. The real fabric has a LOT more gray mixed in to the dye. It's a lot drabber. A very gray-purple.
It was interesting, the underside is lined with the same kind of nylon that's on the top side but it was a very dark blue-violet. It almost made me wonder if they were unsure what color to go with and decided to have 2 different colors on either side of the neoprene?
I believe it was an open cell type neoprene, and it was just a fraction thicker than what Zam I Am ordered. It was also a dark grayish/black neoprene foam.
My pantone match was between "Black Plum" (which was a bit too dark) and "Flint" It really depended on how the light was reflecting off the neoprene though as to how dark or light it looked. Sometimes Flint looked right, sometimes not. It always remained in that grayish plum family.
I should have tugged on the fabric a bit more to see if it was 2 way or 4 way stretch. Oh well!