And the Color of the Year for 2024 is....

Pantone has named "Peach Fuzz" (Pantone 13-1023) as the Color of the Year for 2024! Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director of Pantone Color Institute, said, "In seeking a hue that echoes our innate yearning for closeness and connection, we chose a color radiant with warmth and modern elegance. A shade that resonates with compassion, offers a tactile embrace, and effortlessly bridges the youthful with the timeless." From Pantone's website, Peach Fuzz "captures our desire to nurture ourselves and others. It's a velvety gentle peach tone whose all-embracing spirit enriches mind, body, and soul."

The Pantone Color of the Year was originally created by the Pantone Color Institute in 1999 as an educational program to "engage the design community and color enthusiasts around the world in a conversation around color." Laurie Pressman, Vice President of the Pantone Color Institute, says that their goal is to "draw attention to the relationship between culture and color - to highlight to our audience how what is taking place in our global culture is expressed and reflected through the language of color." Pantone aims to help "companies and consumers better understand the power color can have," and to recognize color's role as the "silent language" of influence.

How is each year's color chosen? Pantone's "global color experts" research to find new color influences - anywhere from entertainment and films to art collections, fashion, and travel. The color selection process is a year-round collaboration of experts from a "wide range of design, cultural, and geographical backgrounds."

In some years, two colors are chosen. In 2016, Rose Quartz and Serenity were blended to "reflect connection and wellness as well as convey a soothing sense of order and peace." Two independent colors, Ultimate Gray and Illuminating, were chosen as Color of the Year in 2021 - "highlighting how different elements come together to support one another." For "Very Peri" (Color of the Year 2022), Pantone created a brand new color to "fully convey the message" they wanted to send - encouraging personal inventiveness and creativity.

Pantone has turned the "color of the year" into a marketing machine, with partnerships and collaborations with companies such as Ruggable, Motorola, and Cariuma. Pantone's website boasts, "We have seen this program influence product development and purchasing decisions in nearly every industry and country around the world. Growing in popularity each year, its impact is felt across fashion, color cosmetics, home furnishings, automotive and industrial design, as well as product, packaging, multimedia design, and commercial interiors." And this impact is not just felt in the current year. Business Insider's Avery Hartsman noted that Pantone's Color of the Year "sets the tone for the consumer products industry and kickstarts a trickle-down effect that can last for years."

If you want to get a jump on some of next year's color trends, Pantone also puts out their "Fashion Color Trend Report" leading up to New York Fashion Week in spring 2024. It includes ten "standout colors" and five "core classics" that they think will be big at NYFW soon.