New Pantone Colour Names

What are the new names?

Pantone have recently reviewed all the Fashion, Home + Interior colour names and made the decision to rename nine of the colours to better resonate with the world we live in today. All Pantone Fashion, Home + Interior colours have a descriptive colour name as well as a 6 digit sku number colour code.

The nine colours with new colour names are listed below:

Old Name           Color sku            New Name

Nude                     12-0911 TCX        Peach Taffy

Indian Tan           17-1328 TCX        Tanzine

Pale Blush            14-1312 TCX        Peach Powder

First Blush           13-2003 TCX       Blushing Rose

Blushing Bride    12-1310 TCX        Icy Pink

Barely There       13-2007 TCX        Veiled Pink

Perfectly Pale      13-0003 TCX       Oat Milk

Aztec                     18-1130 TCX        Cacao Nibs

Blush                     15-1614 TCX        Rose Elegance

What is changing?

The digital products, Pantone licenses and website references were the first to align with the new name changes. The physical products including swatch cards will be updated throughout the year as a running change and will have notation included to indicate the name changes.

What do I need to do?

Do not worry about the name change if your book has been recently purchased* and you don’t yet require a new one as the 6-digit number code will remain the same. Use the number as the primary identifier when buying swatches or communicating the colour reference to your supplier.

*If your TCX Pantone book is over 2 years old you will be missing 315 colours and it is due for an update.

How do I know what type of colour it is from the number?

The 2625 TCX Cotton, 203 TSX Polyester and 21 TN Nylon colours in the Fashion, Home & Interiors range are chosen from LCH colour space, and the numbering system used reflects this. For example 17-1562, the first pair of digits refers to the lightness scale which in Pantone’s case runs from 11 (white) to 19 (black), the second pair of numbers specifies the hue, and the third pair of numbers describes the chroma level. The number code 00 for either hue or chroma denotes the neutral point. So 17-1562 is a medium orange/red which is very saturated – alternatively and probably better known as Mandarin Red!

 

Specifying the colours using the number code eliminates language barriers but using the colour names makes describing colours and colour trends far more interesting and potentially sparks creativity.

Does the name matter?

This is not the first time that Pantone have decided to rename some of the colours due to sensitivity around the original names or in response to complaints from other companies about the IP of a name.

Pantone like all companies needs to respond to public opinion and the current cultural climate. It is therefore right that they are making this change, there is no need to be pale to be perfect and indeed the new name chosen for Perfectly Pale (Oat Milk)  is a trending product.

I am also certain that the renaming of the colours won’t affect their popularity as designers usually select their preferred colours visually either from a Pantone book or from Pantone Connect. 19-1763 Racing Red is just as popular today as it was when it was named Formula One!

The name changes led me to deeper thought about the Pantone colour names and the spelling, Pantone is a US company and although it trades globally some of the names reflect the US heritage – Gray instead of Grey for instance!

What is in a name?

Many of the colour names have their origins in animals, plants, flowers, and food. These often reflect the US as well, so for animals we have Beaver Fur 17-1417 and Mink 19-1430 which are both US animals. Meerkat 16-1438 and Rabbit 19-3905 may be more familiar names to a global audience – particularly in the case of Meerkat because of the collections in zoos and the Tv adverts.

PANTONE 17-3938 Very Peri is the Pantone Colour of the Year for 2022 and was so named because it is a dynamic periwinkle blue hue. Periwinkle is the English name of a flower from the genus Vinca, native to Europe, northwest Africa and southwest Asia.

Do you agree with the names used?

I was looking at Biscuit 16-1336 earlier today, but it seemed much darker than a digestive – more like a ginger nut.

With your biscuit would you have a Black Coffee 19-1111, a Latte 15-1220 or an Iced Coffee 15-1040? Or are you more of a Tea person? If so, you have plenty of choice! Chai Tea 17-0949, Green Tea 15-6428, Tea Leaf 18-0517, Rooibos Tea 18-1355 or just Tea 16-0213?

The members of the Pantone Color Institute which names the colours definitely have a sweet tooth.

There are 15 different shades of brown with the word chocolate included in the name! These include Shaved Chocolate 19-1215, Chocolate Martini 19-1216, and Hot Chocolate 19-1325 as well as Chocolate Chip 19-0809, Chocolate Malt 18-1324 and Chocolate Truffle 19-1526. Those already mentioned are all TCX colours on woven cotton but two more variations can be found in the TSX Polyester range. Chocolate Drizzle 19-1410, and Chocolate Cremoso 19-1117 are both TSX colours.

Other sweet names include Caramel Cream 13-1022, Pecan Pie 18-1125, and Peach Melba 14-1418. PCI colour names are also from savoury foods such as Celery 14-0647, Avocado 18-0430, and Watercress 17-0220. If you prefer a spicy kick to your food, you can use the colours Wasabi 16-5109, Clove 18-1320, Cardamom Seed 17-0529, or Spicy Mustard 14-0952.

Need to update your Pantone books?

If you are missing any of the colours mentioned above or your Pantone books are more than 2 years old, they should be replaced. Regular handling of books and swatches causes grease and dirt to be applied to the surface and open books are susceptible to dust and light fading.

Cotton TCX products include the Cotton Swatch Library, Cotton Chip Set, Cotton Planner, Cotton Passport and Cotton Swatch Card

Polyester TSX products include the Polyester Swatch Book and Polyester Swatch Card

Nylon TN products include the Nylon Swatch Ring and Nylon Swatch Card

Paper TPG products include the Paper Traveler, Color Guide, Color Specifier and the Color Specifier and Guide Set.

For more information on the products suitable for your project or workflow email pantone@verivide.com or follow the link to our Helping you to choose the right product at the bottom of the page.