Short answer
There is no single official Colour of the Year. Several organisations each announce their own every year — Pantone since 2000, AkzoNobel's Dulux ColourFutures, Sherwin-Williams, Benjamin Moore, WGSN with Coloro and others — and each choice is that organisation's forecast and marketing decision for its own customers. Which one matters to you depends on what you are making: a paint maker's pick is about walls, Pantone's is pitched across design and licensed products, and WGSN's is sold to brands two years ahead.
The phrase sounds like an award with a jury, but it is a format that several unrelated businesses use. Pantone, which sells colour standards and licenses its name, has named a Color of the Year for every year since 2000 and launches each one with brand partners. Paint makers — AkzoNobel under the Dulux name in the UK and elsewhere, Sherwin-Williams, Benjamin Moore and Valspar in North America — name a colour they sell, so the announcement is also a product launch with a paint code attached. WGSN, a subscription forecaster, names one jointly with the Coloro colour system and sells the full forecast to fashion, beauty and product brands. Each is answering a different question for a different customer, and none of them claims to speak for the others.
Read as evidence, an announcement shows exactly one thing: that an organisation chose to name that colour at that time. It is not a measurement of what people bought, painted or wore. Several of the authorities say plainly that the choice expresses a mood they read in culture — calm, comfort, optimism — and each launch is timed to sell products in that colour. That does not make the choices arbitrary; the paint makers in particular pick colours they expect to be usable in homes. But a Colour of the Year belongs in the forecast column, not the observation column, which is how this section records every one of them. Where independent data about what happened afterwards exists, it is kept separately and linked.
The one-colour format has frayed. Pantone named two colours for 2016 (a pale pink with a pale blue) and again for 2021 (a grey with a yellow). Sherwin-Williams named a nine-colour capsule for 2025 instead of a single paint, then returned to one colour. AkzoNobel named a trio of blues for 2026, then a single sage green for 2027. Before 2015, AkzoNobel's own list describes each year as a trend theme with a descriptive colour — 'aqua blue', 'imperial yellow' — rather than a named paint. Pantone's 2026 pick was its first white. The practical point is that 'the' colour of a year is often a small palette, and comparing across authorities means comparing unlike things.
For counting, this section records a multi-colour year as one announcement with the family 'multi', so a two-colour year is not counted twice.
Timing tells you what kind of claim it is. Paint makers announce in September or October for the following calendar year — close enough that the colour must already be in the fan deck. Pantone announces in early December, a few weeks before the year starts. WGSN announces roughly two years ahead, because its customers design ranges that reach shops long after the forecast is bought. A colour named two years out is a genuine prediction; a colour named a month before the year begins, by a company that already makes it, is closer to a curated statement of taste. The table on this page shows each authority's record in this dataset; the lead times are worked out on the page about who forecasts.
| Authority | Kind of body | Main sectors | Years recorded | Announcements |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pantone Color Institute | Colour institute (part of a colour-standards company) | design across sectors, fashion, product | 2000–2026 | 27 |
| AkzoNobel (Dulux) ColourFutures | Paint manufacturer | interiors, architecture, coatings | 2004–2027 | 24 |
| Sherwin-Williams | Paint manufacturer | interiors, exteriors | 2011–2027 | 17 |
| Benjamin Moore | Paint manufacturer | interiors | 2013–2026 | 14 |
| WGSN with Coloro | Subscription trend forecaster | fashion, beauty, consumer products | 2021–2028 | 8 |
| Valspar | Paint manufacturer | interiors, exteriors | 2027–2027 | 1 |
Why: It is one authority's pick, often from a different sector from the client's.
Fix: Name the authority, check what sector it addresses, and look for sales or usage data in your own market before committing a range to it.
Why: They are quoting different authorities; both are correct.
Fix: Always attribute: 'Pantone's 2025 colour', 'Dulux's 2025 colour'. The authority table on this page shows who announces for which sector.
Why: The announcement was judged in campaign photography, under different light and at a different scale from your room.
Fix: Treat the announcement as a shortlist entry and test a sample on your own wall in daylight and artificial light.
Each statement is labelled by kind — established fact, a standard’s requirement, observed market data, a convention, or Colourwise’s own interpretation or analysis — with the strength of the evidence behind it.
FactStrong evidence
Pantone named its first Color of the Year, Cerulean, for 2000 to mark the turn of the millennium, and has named one (or a pair) for every year since.
Source: Look back at Pantone's very first Color of the Year: Cerulean; Pantone Color of the Year 2023, with its 'past colors' archive (2000–2023)
FactStrong evidence
Pantone's selection for 2026, Cloud Dancer, announced on 4 December 2025, was the first white it has chosen, and the announcement named licensing partners launching products in the colour.
Source: Pantone introduces the Pantone Color of the Year 2026 (press release)
FactStrong evidence
Sherwin-Williams named a nine-colour capsule rather than a single colour for 2025, and AkzoNobel named a trio of blues for 2026.
Source: Color of the Year archive; AkzoNobel's 2026 Colors of the Year will get your mojo working
Colourwise interpretationModerate evidence
No body is recognised as issuing an official Colour of the Year; each announcement is one organisation's choice for its own customers and should be read as a forecast or marketing decision, not as evidence of a trend.
Based on: Based on the six authorities recorded in this section's dataset, each of which announces independently and none of which claims to speak for the others.
Reviewed 29 September 2026. Colourwise summarises its sources in its own words and does not reproduce standards text or proprietary colour data. Spotted an error? Tell us.