PANTONE is a unique New Jersey company whose color matching systems are available to both professionals and consumers. It is likely that you have used the Pantone Color Systems at one time or another—whether you know it or not.

Thinking about painting a room? Remodeling a house? Redecorating your living room? Choosing fabric? Then you might have already used the Pantone color-matching system. If you are a fashion designer, manufacturer of plastics, graphic designer, or printer, you have certainly used a Pantone product.

Pantone History

Pantone created the color system most widely in use today across industries that use color. The brand developed a consistent language for how designers and manufacturers up and down the supply chain identify, create, and replicate thousands of shades of color. Before Pantone, color matching was like the Wild West—lawless and unruly, often ending in dangerous results.

How did Pantone get control of color? A lucky hire! The brand was started in New Jersey as a printing company by two brothers who ultimately gave a part-time job to college graduate Lawrence Herbert. Herbert used his chemistry knowledge to systematize and simplify the company’s stock of pigments and production of colored inks. By the 1960s, Pantone had become the world’s authority for classifying colors: it standardized color reproduction by making the formulas for creating different colors available to others.

PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM (PMS)

In 1963, Pantone created its innovative PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM^®(PMS). “The tool organizes color standards through a proprietary numbering system and chip format, which have since become iconic to the Pantone brand,” explains Pantone. The Pantone guides are fan decks of plastic or paper color cards used to choose specific colors for painting, decorating, and printing.

Fashion, Home and Interiors System (FHI)

The PMS system is good for print, packaging, digital work, and screen printing. Pantone’s other system is the Fashion, Home and Interiors System (FHI). For soft goods, cloth swatches are presented on cardboard.

Pantone Color of the Year

In 1999, the Pantone Color Institute started the tradition of creating the Pantone Color of the Year, beginning with Cerulean. To choose the Color of the Year, the Institute gathers 40 representatives who assess fashion trends, colors used in manufacturing and designing, and what the global mood seems to be. The 2025 choice is Mocha Mousse, a color that suggests warmth, earthy experiences, and the appealing flavors of coffee and chocolate.

Find out more at Pantone.