Imagine you're leading an LA-based fashion startup specializing in premium printed t-shirts, and your garment manufacturer is in Turkey. How do you communicate via email the exact set of colors in your designs and make sure that the sample garment you receive matches what you envisioned?
For example, there are endless shades of pink. Specifying a light pink or a blush pink narrows it down a little, but everyone interprets a shade slightly differently. Sending a photograph or describing the color is a good start, but varying screen differences, light, and even people's vision can all affect how colors are perceived. Enter Pantone.
The Pantone Matching System
In the 1960s, Pantone launched their Pantone Matching System - an innovative and universal color matching tool that enables designers across all industries to select, articulate, and reproduce consistent color worldwide. With over 10,000 specific color codes, it's a popular method for fashion, textile, and interior designers looking to create seamless color palettes and design on-trend garments for future collections. Working with Pantone eliminates any ambiguity in the design process and helps you communicate and reproduce colors, which keeps your design, printing, and manufacturing process consistent.
Each year, Pantone selects the color of the year through a comprehensive process of color trend forecasting and research by the Pantone Color Institute. Color experts from various design backgrounds come together in discussion and reach a consensus that captures the global cultural mood of the moment. The aim is to demonstrate the relationship between culture and color and inspire people to view color as its own language.
Trending Pantone Color of 2024: Peach Fuzz
What is Peach Fuzz?
The 2024 Pantone color of the year is Peach Fuzz (13-1023) - a warm, soft, and cozy peach hue found on the pink and orange spectrum. Trends across fashion, design, and culture influenced this choice, while collections from Chanel (Pre-Fall 2024), Erdem (Resort 2024), Carven (S/S 2024), Stella McCartney (Pre-Fall 2024), and many more have all shown how versatile this pretty peach shade can be.
The Rise of Peachy Tones in Fashion
Around 2016, 'millennial pink' soared to popularity amongst fashion-forward twenty and thirty-somethings, having previously shunned the classic bubblegum pink of their youth. This softer pink (minus the sugar) was marketed as a hot, gender-neutral, and trans-seasonal shade. We found it in Thinx ads, Glossier campaigns, and vibrator ads, on it-girls of the moment like Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner, and even on the backs of male artists like Drake and Jay-Z.
Now, we're seeing a peachy pink tone infiltrating fashion and design similarly. In a Pantone Color of the Year 2024 thread on Reddit, one user shared, "It's a very classic color that I usually only see limited to summer items… Open to having my mind changed by seeing this color in winter wear." And we have. Peach has been cropping up in women's and men's collections across all seasons. The recent success of the Barbie movie and Taylor Swift being crowned Person of the Year all speak to the rise of a softer kind of feminine power, and Peach Fuzz feels at home here. It feels like a throwback to the 80s, but much more mellow.
What Does this Color Represent?
We live in a world that strongly focuses on the external - our physical appearance, visible success and achievements, and material things. Gradually, we're witnessing a return to the internal. A strong desire to nurture ourselves on all levels (mind, body, and spirit). A craving for closeness and connection. We are slowing down, carving out moments of rest and stillness, and prioritizing our internal values.
As a world, we're still recovering from the social impact of a global pandemic and re-evaluating what matters most to us. Remote work and virtual meeting arrangements were put in place out of necessity but have lingered and amplified our desire for face-to-face contact. The soft and gentle nature of peach soothes the heart and offers a source and symbol of healing and togetherness. Subtly sensual yet modern, it echoes the innate human desire to come together with people we love, tune into ourselves on a deeper level, and bring more compassion, gentleness, and tactility to everything we do. It invokes a much-needed sense of calm, kindness, and sanctuary at a time when we're all but drowning in an ocean of noise and destruction around us.
The Application of Pantone's Peach Fuzz in Various Industries
General Design
Peach Fuzz can be incorporated into various designs, including marketing materials, product design and packaging, retail spaces, and social media content. It works particularly well for brands and products in the wellness space that are related to comfort, self-care, or health. The warmth and softness of the tone are both welcoming and nurturing, making them visually enticing to anyone looking to boost their well-being.
How to Create a Color Harmony
Bring to mind the fuzzy, velvety skin of a ripe, juicy peach and how delicious and irresistible it tastes during the heat of summer. This is the vibration the color elicits when we think of or see it. Peach is a tertiary color that combines a primary color (white) and a secondary color (orange). When dreaming up color harmonies for peach, you can go for complementary colors (opposite on the color wheel) or analogous colors (side by side on the color wheel). Here are some perfect pairings:
- Peach & Purple: similar to a stunning sunset with colors that fill the early evening sky
- Peach & Pink: create a romantic, dreamy, pastel display, perfect for children's birthday parties, baby showers, and even weddings
- Peach & Red: a bolder, non-traditional combination that echoes a desert landscape
- Peach & Green: conjure a feeling of freshness, nature, and tropical adventures
- Peach & Blue: serene coastal scenes and sophisticated pairings for interior or fashion fabrics
- Peach & Light Blue: a more soothing and subtle pairing perfect for children's bedrooms and fashion
- Peach & Darker Shades: mahogany, dark green or brown, charcoal, navy, and gold accents create a warm, sophisticated effect
- Peach & Earth Shades: tan, brown, cream, earthy green, and gold grounds and balances the lighter peach tone, resulting in a modern, organic pairing
Fashion
With so much dividing us and the increase in aggression throughout society, Peach Fuzz could be the soft power we need to restore peace, harmony, and love and unite. While typically reserved for baby and young girl's clothing as well as bridesmaid's dresses, peach is slowly becoming associated with quiet strength and feminine power and infiltrating women's everyday collections.
Velvety and quilted textures can enhance the tactile appeal of a garment and the sense of warmth and comfort already infused by Peach Fuzz. This works particularly well in clothing (think a quilted satin bomber jacket or a velvet dress) and accessories (a quilted PU leather handbag or a peachy velvet block-heeled sandal).
Retail spaces should also take note that Peach Fuzz used on interior design elements or in-store marketing materials on the walls can boost the customer experience and encourage people to stay in store longer.
Conclusion: Peach Fuzz and the Future
The Pantone color of the year 2024 aims to return the joy, innocence, and connection the world has grown starved of. Its warmth, softness, and comfort are set to greatly shape diverse aesthetics across the industries of fashion and design.
