Color of The Year 2026 | Pantone & Benjamin Moore

Every year, leading color authorities and paint brands such as Pantone, Benjamin Moore, and Sherwin-Williams select a Color of the Year they believe will capture the evolving zeitgeist.

Pantone has chosen a soft, luminous white called Cloud Dancer as its Color of the Year 2026, while Benjamin Moore’s standout shade for the year ahead is an espresso brown.

This article explores some of the hues that are expected to influence interiors, fashion, branding, and creative industries in 2026.

Pantone Color of the Year 2026

The global color experts at Pantone have named Cloud Dancer as the Pantone Color of the Year 2026. This soft, airy white is identified by the code PANTONE 11-4201 within the Pantone Matching System, ensuring the shade can be accurately reproduced across fashion, interiors, graphics, and product design worldwide.

Cloud Dancer

Cloud Dancer is a delicate, luminous hue with an ethereal softness. According to Pantone’s trend forecasters, this refined white reflects a yearning for serenity and an optimistic outlook in a rapidly changing world.

Pantone predicts that this expressive white will feature prominently in interior design, fashion, beauty, branding, and digital design throughout 2026, where it will be used both as a standalone statement color and as a versatile foundation for more expressive palettes.

Pantone’s official 2026 Color of the Year partners are launching products featuring PANTONE 11-4201 Cloud Dancer, from smartphones and home-fragrance diffusers to soft furnishings, stationery, and creative toys.

The Pantone Color of the Year 2026 Cloud Dancer. Image courtesy of Pantone.

2025 Color of the Year

In 2025, the forecasters at Pantone selected Mocha Mousse as the Pantone Color of the Year 2025, assigning it the code PANTONE 17-1230. This rich, elemental brown was chosen to reflect a desire for comfort, groundedness, and everyday indulgence, drawing inspiration from chocolate, coffee, and natural, earthy materials.

Pantone positioned Mocha Mousse as a sensory, nurturing neutral—a color that feels both familiar and refined. Throughout 2025, the shade was expected to play a major role across fashion, interior design, beauty, packaging, and branding, supporting product aesthetics that emphasized wellness, craftsmanship, and emotional warmth.

Benjamin Moore Color of the Year 2026

Meanwhile, the paints and coatings manufacturer Benjamin Moore has selected a shade of brown as its Color of the Year 2026. The shade, named Silhouette (AF-655), is a rich espresso brown that complements the other hues in the Benjamin Moore Color Trends 2026 palette, which include a soft off-white, a steely green, and a soft, blush-tinted beige.

Benjamin Moore chose Silhouette as its 2026 Color of the Year to reflect the growing influence of tailoring and classic silhouettes in the world of fashion on interior design, along with the rising popularity of brown color palettes.

Color of the Year 2025

Benjamin Moore went for a subtle blend of heathered plum and velvety brown called Cinnamon Slate (2113-40) for its Color of the Year 2025. The shade anchored the Benjamin Moore Color Trends 2025 palette, a curated mix of tones featuring soft neutral whites, gentle pastels, a mossy graphite green, and a leathery brown.

Cinnamon Slate was chosen as an adaptable yet distinctive hue, offering a versatile foundation for interiors that feel warm, welcoming, and quietly expressive.

Sherwin-Williams Color of the Year 2026

Sherwin-Williams has selected the warm neutral Universal Khaki (SW 6150) as its Color of the Year 2026. The shade was chosen from the palettes featured in the company’s Color Mix Forecast, which emerged from its Annual Color Forecast Workshop.

According to Sue Wadden, Sherwin-Williams’ Director of Color Marketing, Universal Khaki is an “unmistakable classic” that represents “traditional values reimagined for today’s color space.” The tone is expected to play a key role in eco-conscious interiors that feel refined rather than rustic.

Instead of naming a single Sherwin-Williams Color of the Year 2025, last year Sherwin-Williams curated a Color Capsule of the Year—a palette featuring shades such as Chartreuse, White Snow, Bosc Pear, and Rain Cloud.

Behr Color of the Year 2026

Behr Paint Company has named a smoky jade green called Hidden Gem (N430-6A) as its Color of the Year 2026. According to Erika Woelfel, Behr’s Vice President of Color and Creative Services, this grounded yet energizing hue captures “a growing appetite for colors that challenge convention and bring an unexpected sense of wonder.”

The Behr Color of the Year 2026 Hidden Gem. Image courtesy of Behr Paint Company.

Frequently asked questions about color of the year 2026

What is a color of the year?

A color of the year is a shade selected by a leading color authority or paint brand—such as Pantone, Benjamin Moore, or Sherwin-Williams—as the key trend-setting color for the year ahead.

These selections are based on global design trends, cultural movements, consumer behavior, and emerging influences across fashion, interiors, and creative industries.

QuillBot’s Paraphraser can help you describe color trends in fresh and engaging ways.