marsala-inset The mavens of color have spoken: Marsala, the color for 2015 will make “an elegant, grounded statement color when used on its own or as a strong accent to many other colors.” You’ll be relieved to know that Pantone 18-1438 is “a naturally robust and earthy wine red” to enrich our minds, bodies and souls. Not to mention racks of fashion, shelves of home décor and gallons of paint and pigment.

Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director for the Pantone Color Institute, has more to add about the Pantone Color of the Year for 2015. “Marsala is a subtly seductive shade, one that draws us in to its embracing warmth. Nurturing and fulfilling, Marsala is a natural fit for the kitchen and dining room – making it ideal for tabletop, small appliances and linens throughout the home. This hearty, yet stylish tone is universally appealing and translates easily to fashion swatches , beauty, industrial design, home furnishings and interiors.”

Promoting a new color for the year isn’t an exclusive for the Pantone Color Institute. Sherwin Williams likes Coral Reef’s blend of pink, orange and red. Upscale Farrow & Ball, British wallcovering and paint manufacturer, is pushing Pink Ground and Breakfast Room Green (breakfast room need paint?). The global Color Marketing Group projects key colors by continent – for 2016 North America’s sporting Uni-Blue with Europe’s dark red Brave, “to lift the spirit of everything it caresses.”

Color is big business, especially for FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) that depend on fickle buyers and the built-in obsolescence of replaceable fashion. In the last 15 years, Pantone has moved from a prosaic color-specification company to an authority on color communication from designer to manufacturer to retailer to customer. Yes, they still market the graphics-industry standard reference swatch books and specifiers (complete set $1399.00) with corollaries for pigment, fabric and plastics. Now there’s a Pantone SkinTone guide for 110 standardized reference colors, iOS and Android apps, and branded gift items like mugs, phone cases and wristwatches. At the corporate level, they deliver “insights to inform the effective commercial application of color through a range of trend forecast publications, csamples-2olor research and bespoke consultancy.”

To simply stay up with the trends, purchase a new Marsala page for your reference book for just $9.75. Or mix your own using C10 M67 Y49 K23 or R173 G101 B95.

Whatever you choose, start using Marsala before it’s replaced by some new color that’s not as “highly compatible with amber, umber and golden yellows, greens in both turquoise and teal, and blues in the more vibrant range.”