COLOR TREND FORECASTING FOR THE HOME DÉCOR AND PAINT MARKET
22 February 2022
The home paint and coatings market
Color forecasting is an important element in the global manufacturing industry and especially the paint and coatings segment. Analysts estimate the market value in the range of $60 billion annually, with continued growth expected despite supply chain issues.
This is in part due to the fact that during COVID-19, many people took on DIY projects which included painting, touching up, or refinishing furniture. In fact, according to the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) report released in 2021, YoY gains in annual improvement and repair spending were projected to reach 9% in the fourth quarter of 2021 and maintain that growth level in 2022.
The importance of color forecasting
Now that the home has also become the workplace for so many, color has taken on even more importance. That's where color forecasting becomes essential. So, what companies do color forecasting and how are theese colors chosen? Moreover, can we tell if these forecasts have a real effect on the home décor and paint market?
Pantone
The color forecast that most ordinary people have heard of is, of course, Pantone's. It would be hard to have missed seeing at least one social media post showcasting "Very Peri", Pantone's color of the year for 2022.
So, how does this famous color institute choose among so many options? Pantone’s color trend analysis team looks to the entertainment industry, gaming and social media, popular art exhibitions, sporting events and social trends as well as new industrial technologies, materials, and textures. This year, for the first time, they chose to create a new color and Laurie Pressman, Vice President of the Pantone Color Institute remarked in an article in The Wall Street Journal, “We see this as a color that is expressive of curiosity.”
Colors of the year 2022 for interior paints
However, Pantone is only one player in the color forecasting industry and, in fact, a broader trend in interior paints seems to be going green. Sherwin-Williams, which topped the Paint & Coatings Industry’s global top ten list in 2021 with coatings sales of approximately $14.69 billion, has also been choosing a color of the year since 2011.
This year’s pick is called Evergreen Fog a soft, neutral grey-green. Why green? In a recent piece in Architectural Digest, Sherwin-Williams Director of Color Marketing, Sue Wadden, remarked that “From a color psychology standpoint, [green] is a color of nature and revitalization, new beginnings and growth. As we emerge into whatever this new space is, green is emblematic of that newness.”
It’s also worth noting that this neutral tone combines well with the other colors from the coatings-industry giant’s Colormix® Color Forecast 2022: Master Palette, which includes 40 different hues.
The sources for color forecasting
When it comes to how they select these colors, the team uses a variety of resources from street and runway fashion to hot TV series and films, to professional trend forecasting platforms like WGSN.
But, as Lauren West, the company’s global color and design director for wood product manufacturers said in an article published on the American Institute of Architects’ website, “Color forecasting is a mixture of science and storytelling, but a legitimate trend forecast is rooted in data.”
2022 goes green
Sherwin-Williams isn’t alone in naming a shade of green color of the year. Behr chose a lighter, blue-green shade called Breezeway while other paint manufacturers have moved more towards yellow-green. Examples include Benjamin Moore’s October Mist, PPG’s Olive Sprig, and Glidden’s much brighter, yellow-green tone Guacamole.
Geographical market forecasting
Another major player in the color forecasting market is the Color Marketing Group or CMG. Unlike Pantone or many of the paint and coatings manufacturers, CMG is an international, non-profit association that provides members with an exchange forum for non-competitive information on all aspects of color marketing across multiple industries.
CMG divides its forecasting over four geographical regions: Latin America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America. This association makes long-term color forecasts that cover a two- to five-year time frame using research from field reports, consumer surveys and product split tests as a starting point.
How color forecasting helps manufacturers
Because they issue these forecasts with a long lead time – for example, the color forecast for 2022+ was revealed in November of 2020 – manufacturers are able to look ahead, organize supply chains and have products ready for when the trend wave hits.
An article from the Paint & Coatings Industry website shows that CMG correctly predicted the trend towards green and blue. And, they have 10 years of research showing how the popularity of yellow and purple have both surged after a financial crisis, at the beginning of the decade, and post pandemic.
So, does it work? It’s a good question and, unfortunately, less research seems to be dedicated to the financial results that manufacturers achieve from following color forecasting than to the color forecasting itself.
However, thanks to color researchers and the publicization of color trend information, consumers are more interested than ever in reading about the topic.
Consumers' interest
This consumer awareness is capable of creating a sort of self-fulfilling loop: the forecasters study, research, and conduct surveys and publicize their findings; the manufacturers purchase the information to use in making color decisions about their products and hire influencers to use those products, in the case of paint and coatings manufacturers, may even create ‘color stories’ to sell the concept of that palette; the consumer sees the news stories about the trending colors and the advertisements for the products and uses this information to help make purchasing decisions.
In the world of paints and coatings, where the sky is the limit when it comes to color choice and consumers are making long-term decisions about colors for their homes, having some parameters that help to evaluate and narrow down the selection can offer both home owners and designers a much-needed starting point.
And if you don't like 2022's green and periwinkle...just wait for next year.
Color forecasting is an important element in the global manufacturing industry and especially the paint and coatings segment. Analysts estimate the market value in the range of $60 billion annually, with continued growth expected despite supply chain issues.
This is in part due to the fact that during COVID-19, many people took on DIY projects which included painting, touching up, or refinishing furniture. In fact, according to the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) report released in 2021, YoY gains in annual improvement and repair spending were projected to reach 9% in the fourth quarter of 2021 and maintain that growth level in 2022.
The importance of color forecasting
Now that the home has also become the workplace for so many, color has taken on even more importance. That's where color forecasting becomes essential. So, what companies do color forecasting and how are theese colors chosen? Moreover, can we tell if these forecasts have a real effect on the home décor and paint market?
Pantone
The color forecast that most ordinary people have heard of is, of course, Pantone's. It would be hard to have missed seeing at least one social media post showcasting "Very Peri", Pantone's color of the year for 2022.
So, how does this famous color institute choose among so many options? Pantone’s color trend analysis team looks to the entertainment industry, gaming and social media, popular art exhibitions, sporting events and social trends as well as new industrial technologies, materials, and textures. This year, for the first time, they chose to create a new color and Laurie Pressman, Vice President of the Pantone Color Institute remarked in an article in The Wall Street Journal, “We see this as a color that is expressive of curiosity.”
Colors of the year 2022 for interior paints
However, Pantone is only one player in the color forecasting industry and, in fact, a broader trend in interior paints seems to be going green. Sherwin-Williams, which topped the Paint & Coatings Industry’s global top ten list in 2021 with coatings sales of approximately $14.69 billion, has also been choosing a color of the year since 2011.
This year’s pick is called Evergreen Fog a soft, neutral grey-green. Why green? In a recent piece in Architectural Digest, Sherwin-Williams Director of Color Marketing, Sue Wadden, remarked that “From a color psychology standpoint, [green] is a color of nature and revitalization, new beginnings and growth. As we emerge into whatever this new space is, green is emblematic of that newness.”
It’s also worth noting that this neutral tone combines well with the other colors from the coatings-industry giant’s Colormix® Color Forecast 2022: Master Palette, which includes 40 different hues.
The sources for color forecasting
When it comes to how they select these colors, the team uses a variety of resources from street and runway fashion to hot TV series and films, to professional trend forecasting platforms like WGSN.
But, as Lauren West, the company’s global color and design director for wood product manufacturers said in an article published on the American Institute of Architects’ website, “Color forecasting is a mixture of science and storytelling, but a legitimate trend forecast is rooted in data.”
2022 goes green
Sherwin-Williams isn’t alone in naming a shade of green color of the year. Behr chose a lighter, blue-green shade called Breezeway while other paint manufacturers have moved more towards yellow-green. Examples include Benjamin Moore’s October Mist, PPG’s Olive Sprig, and Glidden’s much brighter, yellow-green tone Guacamole.
Geographical market forecasting
Another major player in the color forecasting market is the Color Marketing Group or CMG. Unlike Pantone or many of the paint and coatings manufacturers, CMG is an international, non-profit association that provides members with an exchange forum for non-competitive information on all aspects of color marketing across multiple industries.
CMG divides its forecasting over four geographical regions: Latin America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America. This association makes long-term color forecasts that cover a two- to five-year time frame using research from field reports, consumer surveys and product split tests as a starting point.
How color forecasting helps manufacturers
Because they issue these forecasts with a long lead time – for example, the color forecast for 2022+ was revealed in November of 2020 – manufacturers are able to look ahead, organize supply chains and have products ready for when the trend wave hits.
An article from the Paint & Coatings Industry website shows that CMG correctly predicted the trend towards green and blue. And, they have 10 years of research showing how the popularity of yellow and purple have both surged after a financial crisis, at the beginning of the decade, and post pandemic.
So, does it work? It’s a good question and, unfortunately, less research seems to be dedicated to the financial results that manufacturers achieve from following color forecasting than to the color forecasting itself.
However, thanks to color researchers and the publicization of color trend information, consumers are more interested than ever in reading about the topic.
Consumers' interest
This consumer awareness is capable of creating a sort of self-fulfilling loop: the forecasters study, research, and conduct surveys and publicize their findings; the manufacturers purchase the information to use in making color decisions about their products and hire influencers to use those products, in the case of paint and coatings manufacturers, may even create ‘color stories’ to sell the concept of that palette; the consumer sees the news stories about the trending colors and the advertisements for the products and uses this information to help make purchasing decisions.
In the world of paints and coatings, where the sky is the limit when it comes to color choice and consumers are making long-term decisions about colors for their homes, having some parameters that help to evaluate and narrow down the selection can offer both home owners and designers a much-needed starting point.
And if you don't like 2022's green and periwinkle...just wait for next year.