We have waited long enough to talk about the uproar that has surrounded Pantone’s announcement of their Color of the Year for 2026.
For 2026, Pantone announced that Cloud Dancer is the Color of the Year which is white. We can certainly bicker as to whether Cloud Dancer is a warm white or a cool white like we are picking paint colors for our new rental apartment but the bottomline is that many saw Pantone’s choice as tone deaf for a multitude of reasons. First, the name sounds vaguely Native American which feels disrespectful to a whole culture of people who were not asked about it.
Second, in our current US cultural climate, the choice of white feels — extremely cultural white-washed. And that’s downplaying much of the language that filled my social media streams for days.
Why is this important to us in the pen community? It’s not really. To be honest, Pantone’s Color of the Year isn’t important to anyone but it was something that has, in the past, brought us joy and thoughtfulness. This year, it’s just brought anger and frustration.
For this site, Laura loves to sample and review inks that coordinate with the color chosen for the year. I often put together a Fashionable Friday inspired by the color choice too. Ink samples are out for 2026 to match the Color of the Year and I’m not very inspired to build an all-white pen and stationery suite. So….
Some Color Alternatives:
Laura and I chatted at length about color alternatives for 2026. She works in the fabric industry and recommended the Kona Cotton Fabrics Color of the Year for 2026, Wander which is bright, saturated green like moss on the forest floor.
Culture Hustle hosted a contest for folks to vote for the color of the year for 2026. Anarchic Venom was the winner and became their “color of the people”.
The international trend forecasting company WGSN and Coloro chose “Transformative Teal” which I quite prefer to white. I even put together a Fashionable Friday recently with a similar palette.
In 2026, WGSN predicts that old ideas will be challenged as people demand urgent changes to how we treat our societies, organise our industries, and cooperate with our environments.
Transformative Teal is a fluid fusion of blue and aquatic green that reflects the diversity of nature and taps into an Earth-first mindset. It represents change and redirection, and can help encourage resilience in the face of complex climate challenges.
Choose Your Own Color of the Year
I like the idea of choosing your own Color for the Year. In the same way that some people choose a word of the year, I think I will pick a color for this year. I’d like to use the color throughout the year in pens, ink, paper, clothing and even household items in hopes of creating a visual touchstone for hope, kindness and generosity. I think the Wander Green or Transformative Teal might work. What would you pick?
*All images link to their original posts on Instagram. I recommend clicking through for the full details as their are often multiple slides and lots of comments.
Etsy also chose a color of the year here: https://www.etsy.com/news/etsy-announces-its-2026-color-of-the-year-a-plus-the-first-ever-texture-of-the-year And I saw a lot of posts suggesting Pthalo Green.
I’m definitely choosing a shade of green for my color of the year this year!
Oh, here we go again. Not that long ago, a color was chosen as color of the year. I forget which one, but it was not a particularly agreeable color. I cannot remember people carrying on about politics, race, ethnicity. It was a color!
Once upon a time, people were more interested in how to provide food, clothing, shelter, medical care for their families. They worked themselves very hard to simply be alive and didn't worry about their precious feelings, "discomfort," and all of this idiocy. We lost our minds years ago, and this is just continuing.I've taken to telling people to PLEASE DON'T ADDRESS ME AS "MA'AM" (a sign of respect for a human woman) BECAUSE I'M TRANSITIONING INTO A YOUNG FEMALE GIRAFFE. DON'T INSULT ME BY REFERRING TO ME AS A HUMAN BEING. I'M TRANSITIONING TO SOMETHING ELSE. PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL OF WHO I AM INSIDE.
Does this sound comical? Stupid? Silly? Nonsensical? Perhaps insane or delusional???
How long, exactly, does this need to continue? And if you want something to worry about, come to New York City in which people like me may soon be accosted in the street and hurt or killed because of who we are. And then the violent criminals will be applauded for committing violence and hurting and/or killing human beings. Now, THAT’S SOMETHING TO WORRY ABOUT. AND IT’S REAL.
I understand that in the grand scheme of things, a color of the year is not important. I hope we provided a moment of diversion in a world that is full of much bigger issues.
I would pick Transformative Teal.