Colors for 2025-2026 include (l-to-r) Future Dusk, Celestial Yellow, Cherry Lacquer, Retro Blue and Neon Flare.
LONDON – WGSN and Coloro have named the colors that they believe will be adopted by 2026 due to strong influences that will drive consumers.
WGSN, which focuses on design trends, and Coloro, which focuses on the future of color, both say that acceleration is the overarching theme.
“As the climate crisis brings chaos and strange omens of decline such as orange skies and green oceans, we will see an acceleration of change, both good and bad. Urgency, repair and reassurance will be the new necessities in this new reality,” said Urangoo Samba, head of color for WGSN.
Their key colors for 2025/2026 are Celestial Yellow, Cherry Lacquer, Retro Blue, Neon Flare and Future Dusk.
“Light and luminous hues such as Celestial Yellow, as well as meditative and sensual darks of Future Dusk and Cherry Lacquer, speak of the search for restoration, whether it be looking out to cosmos for guidance, or turning our gaze inwards for solace,” Samba added.
“Dependable and familiar colors such as Retro Blue, echo the enduring appeal of nostalgia, and the need to connect with people and things that are comforting and recognizable in a world that feels perilous and uncertain. Intense and bright tones such as Neon Flare, mirror the beauty and strangeness of nature, and the urgency and activism required to bring it back to a place of balance.”
Before any seasonal palette is confirmed, Color said all forecasted colors are run through its feasibility intelligence solution to ensure the colors are broadly achievable on most materials.
They typically choose colors that can be achieved on all materials, however, based on strong trend evidence provided by WGSN, this year they decided to overlook these criteria for the color Neon Flare. The color is not achievable on cotton and has limited lightfastness on nylon, but Coloro provides brands with the knowledge of how they can appropriate and achieve ways to introduce that neon color while avoiding all the frustrations of misapplications.
“This showcases the importance of a balanced approach that I’m sure is mirrored in our clients’ businesses and how creativity and technical expertise is always working together for the win,” said Samba.
The next two years will reveal strategic imagination, when individual and collective creativity will be harnessed to generate new economic and ecological solutions, according to the experts at WGSN. Future Dusk aligns with this theme, sitting between blue and purple, and bringing a sense of mystery and escapism through its dark and moody qualities.
