My 2025 Pantone Color of the Year Prediction

Disclaimer

Today's post, or should I say tonight's post, is going to be a little different because I'm writing as fast as I can.

Usually, I like to take my time and do thorough research.

Still, tonight I want to write purely out of passion and excitement for a topic I care about: the Pantone Color of the Year.

I had a conversation with a friend at work about this very topic today where I argued this case, and I knew I had to document it in case I'm right.

My goal for this post is to (1) explain what the Pantone Color of the Year is, (2) describe why I love it, (3) say what I think the 2025 Pantone Color of the Year will be, and (4) explain why.

There is a lot to do in the little time I have to write this post—it's currently 9:08PM on November 19th, 2024.

My goal is to knock this out in the next two hours.

Let's go.

What is the Pantone Color of the Year?

I did a project on it during my junior of year of college.

Basically, Pantone was one of the first companies to standardize the way that companies communicate color.

Companies used to use physical color samples that they would send to manufacturers overseas, but you can imagine all the ways this could go wrong.

So Pantone created a numeric standard to classify thousands of colors to solve this problem.

Today, Pantone still has their classification system, but they also do forecasting and personal consulting all aimed at helping businesses use colors to tell a story that their target customer will care about.

They also have the Pantone Color of the Year which is a yearly color prediction of what they think the biggest color of the season is going to be.

You can see some of their past picks above.

Why do I love the Pantone Color of the Year?

I love the Pantone Color of the Year because it's an example of how predictable trends can be.

In college, I remember learning about the concept of color forecasting and the idea that every color that we see is part of an elaborate story that's designed for us was immediatley hooked.

How could anyone predict what I'm going to find cool a year in advance?

But as I started to learn more about the cyclical nature of trends and culture, it became more obvious to me just how predictable everything is.

For example, the 2023 Pantone Color of the Year "Viva Magenta" made no sense to me at the time.

In 2022, the sorority green floral was EVERYWHERE and it was hard to imagine it ever going out of style .. especially for Magenta.

But slowly and surely Magenta started to pop up everywhere just like the monologue in the Devil's Wears Prada (2006).

Magenta moved from the runway, to the red carpet, to the luxury stores, to the middle-class department stores, and then to clearance racks of Walmart all of which was forecasted a year in advance. =

In short, I find it cool how predictable color trends can be.

Once you start to recognize the importance of key indicators like the Pantone Color of the Year, it can be really fun to watch new colors rise and fall in your daily life.

My Prediction

I can't really explain where this comes from but I have a large hunch that it's going to be a color in the teal/aquamarine family.

Specifically, my take is this shade: Pantone 312C.

It's a nice splash, if you will, against the current trends that come before it: assouline red & fern green for FW2024, viva magenta for FW2023, and emerald green for FW2022.

Why I picked Teal

I think that Teal will be the 2025 Pantone Color of the Year for two main reasons: (1) my cultural predictions and (2) it fits in line with the pattern.

Culturally I predict that the state of pessimistic nihilism that's painting fashion blood red, black, and faded green will evolve into a zeitgeist that revolves around urban solitude.

On the other hand, I think in contrast to the tropical satire I expect to see this spring I think fashion could also swing in favor of a rustic urban aesthetic that's characterized by feelings of loss/longing in a city environment.

Loneliness is also a really big idea in culture right now and I think the introspectively stagnant nature of teal lends itself to this as well.

Additionally, if you look at the previous Pantone Color of the Years you'll see that the colors tend to space themselves out.

And if you look at the last time it was a teal was 2010 - which was a long time ago.

This gives me a reason to believe that a lighter shade of blue could be up this year.

In Conclusion

Every year I try and predict and I've never gotten it right, but who knows? Maybe I'll get it right this year.

As the 2025 Pantone Color of the Year is ready to be announced I'm incredibly excited for what it means for fashion and culture, and I hope you are too.

Thanks for reading!

-JM

P.S. - I FINISHED BEFORE 11PM!!! LET'S GOOO!!!