Color forecasting organizations

A number of organizations and companies provide color forecasting services, and in this step, you will learn more about the International Colour Authority (ICA) and The Pantone Color Institute^TM.

Who is the International Colour Authority?

The International Colour Authority (ICA) is an international color forecasting service. Teams of representatives from member companies, and color experts meet bi-annually to determine general color palettes approximately twenty-two to twenty-four months before the products they make are available to the consumer.

ICA services provide some of the earliest predictions in the industry. Separate palettes are created for menswear, women’s wear, leather, home fashions, and paints. ICA then sends the forecasts to member companies for their use.

The Pantone Color Institute^TM

The Pantone Color Institute^TM is a color service provider of professional color standards and digital solutions for the design industry. Pantone helps companies with color trend forecasting, brand color development, custom color solutions, or product palette selection (Pantone 2018).

The Pantone Color Institute^TM is well-known for indicating the “Color of the Year.”

For example, PANTONE 16-1546 Living Coral was named the Pantone Color of the Year for 2019. This color is described as “an animating and life-affirming shade of orange with a golden undertone. We get energy from nature. Just as coral reefs are a source of sustenance and shelter to sea life, vibrant yet mellow PANTONE 16-1546 Living Coral embraces us with warmth and nourishment to provide comfort and buoyancy in our continually shifting environment” (Pantone 2018).

Other color forecasting services sell color forecasts to companies.

These forecasts may be specific to a particular target market and product (e.g., women’s apparel, children’s apparel). Often the services will also include materials and fashion style forecasting. Color forecasting services include the following:

• Trendstop.com is a highly regarded online global color and trend forecasting service that provides subscribers with current research on a variety of international fashion trends.
• Headquartered in Paris, Promostyl is an international color, fabric, and style forecasting service that provides trend analyses for men’s, women’s, and children’s apparel twelve to eighteen months ahead of the fashion season.
• Peclers Paris also offers color and trend forecasts for fashion, industrial design, and home fashions.

Fashion brands may conduct their own color forecasting, which is more specific to their product and target market than the information provided by color forecasting services. This type of color forecasting is accomplished in several ways:

• reviewing color predictions from color forecasting services
• tracking color trends by examining the colors that were the best and worst selling from previous seasons
• observing general trends that may affect the color preferences of the target market
• looking at what colors have been missing from the color palettes in order to select colors that may be viewed as new.