Feeling blue today? Green with envy? Whatever the mood, Pantone can point you in the right color direction.
Considered an authority on color, Pantone calls out shade trends 18 months to 24 months in advance of a season. For its biannual forecasting tool, Pantone View Colour Planner, a diverse group of color gurus are tapped for their expertise. “We have a womenswear expert from Italy and a lifestyle, home and interiors expert from Spain,” said Tod Schulman, VP of the fashion, home and interiors division of Pantone.
While Pantone’s team of specialists treats it like a science, they know people’s reaction to color is often anything but scientific. “We’re inspired by so many things,” Schulman said. “It’s all about politics, the economy, green issues, social factors — what’s going on in the world.”
With the spring ’08 season just around the corner, Schulman shared Pantone’s picks with Footwear News during a color briefing at its Carlstadt, N.J., headquarters. Included in the mix are semi-bright hues evocative of citrus fruits and summer flowers; green tones related to aniseed, chlorophyll and menthol that refresh and regenerate; and Asian spice shades that conjure up thoughtful moments of quietude.
FN: Pantone doesn’t deal specifically with shoes — how can the footwear industry use your
services?
TS: They should be looking at the Pantone View Colour Planner. When you take a look at it, we talk to you about a feeling. We talk to you about a group of colors, and we talk to you about what we see in terms of their necessity. We always show you how we’ve been inspired by a group of colors. I don’t think it matters if you are a footwear designer and looking at this book, because I’m not talking about a specific shoe in here. I’m talking to you about an inspiration of ideas. That is one of the most important things people like to walk away with.
FN: What impacts color direction?
TS: We’re inspired by so many things. It’s all about politics, the economy, green issues, social factors. It starts to affect buying patterns. For instance, the whole idea of the greening of the world. I think people like Al Gore really brought it to the forefront. It is going to affect the products we see and the colors products are going to be in, because it is about preservation. [Another] is cause marketing. If you take a look over the past year at what celebrities like Bono have been able to do, as well as others who took up the causes of Hurricane Katrina, they’re wearing their money on their sleeves in a very different way, [and that influences the] way consumers are going to react, and in the things designers are going to produce. So it’s a very part-and-parcel message.
FN: How much color synergy is there from one industry to another?
TS: Years ago, when I started in the industry, fashion was the leader for color, styling and trends. But the complete opposite has really happened. You have fashion people studying so many other things like art, architecture, sculpture, lots of inanimate [objects]. People are looking at those as being the direction. I gave a talk [recently] at the Design Exchange to a group of interior design people. I had to applaud them because [over] the last several years, the materials used in interiors and for contract manufacturing have become so much more interesting and technological. Other industries, such as accessories and fashion, are looking at that as something they want to try and interpret into fiber making.
FN: How do consumers’ color preferences differ globally?
TS: White used to be considered a funereal color in some countries in the Far East. It’s really not adopted like that anymore. What’s happened through the years is a westernization that’s gone on. There’s the whole globalization issue and the fact that the world has really shrunk. What’s happened is we have access to information so quickly, and people are sharing so much of the same information that you don’t see the disparate uses of color the way we may have 20 to 25 years ago. That’s very important. We can say blue is the No. 1 color family in the world, but you may see a disparity in the shade as being a bit more popularly adapted in one country versus another.
FN: Why is blue a favorite?
TS: The color you see when you look up to the sky is blue. When you look at the water, the color is blue. [Historically], when people woke up every morning and saw a sky and water, they knew they were still alive. So it was always a sense of optimism to them. There was a constancy they felt. That has sort of been spiritually handed down, so there is that emotional connection people have with the color.
FN: How is color defined?
TS: There are scientific ways you can actually explain color. But it’s all about the light — the way that it reflects — and that’s what actually creates color. On the more emotional side, we have a lot of words that we have studied and put together that actually describe a person’s emotional connections with color. If you say the word “red,” in your mind’s eye, what are some of the words that actually describe that feeling? It could be captivating, it could be dangerous, powerful, sexy, dramatic — these are the things that go into giving a color personality.
FN: Is there a designer who makes great use of color?
TS: Some of the luxury goods brands have introduced color in a way they were not necessarily noted for years ago. I look at brands like Vuitton, which added color with Marc Jacobs, people like Giles Deacon, who added color to Mulberry out of London. They have given those kind of staid brands a very new look and feel to what were ordinarily considered brown handbags. Those people have really stepped out, and given companies like that a very new, redefined focus in thinking how their product line should be looking for the future.
FN: Christian Louboutin redefined the use of color with his red outsoles. Will it have a trickle-down effect?
TS: I’m consulting on a project for a phone company, and we’re looking at materials that could encase a mobile phone. We’re looking at the bottom of sneakers. A lot of ads today focus on what’s on the bottom. They show you the tread. The tread has such an interesting texture, and they’re doing interesting things in terms of colors. I think it’s just another way to kind of outline and give a glow-edged effect to a piece of footwear. It’s just this one accent.
FN: What part of the world today is having an impact on color trends?
TS: We’ve been so fascinated with the Far East because of its very reticent quality. Things over there are based on beauty. I think the Middle East will become more of a focus for design people. I also think a lot of it has come about because of some of the negativism, but we’re not focusing on [that]. What we’re focusing on is that more people have become aware that the Middle East is such an important part of the world because it’s the cradle of civilization. And the fact is we want to learn about all of the beautiful things there. People are actually fascinated with the landscapes and the beauty of some of these countries. You will start to see more people embracing that. |
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