CARLSTADT, N.J. — March 15, 2023 — Pantone LLC, the global color authority and provider of professional color language standards and digital solutions for the design community, today announced the launch of its special edition Pantone SkinTone™ Guide. This launch marks the 10th anniversary of the development of the product, which has now evolved to incorporate even more diverse shades, with a total of 138 shades and is integrated within Pantone’s digital platform, Pantone Connect.
Inclusivity and representation are standard expectations from consumers, and brands across industries must ensure that it is part of the fabric of their creations. Additionally, as we now live in a more hybrid world, designers, especially within areas of fashion, beauty, and product design are operating and creating work that is made to adapt to digital and physical spaces, so ensuring that accurate skin tones are incorporated seamlessly within that digital/physical workflow, and product delivery is essential.
Pantone has been leading the charge in these efforts for over 10 years, ensuring the creative community have the tools and support they need to further foster inclusivity and representation across their designs. From fashion, beauty, to product development, the 2023 SkinTone™ Guide has been part of Pantone’s continuous and ongoing effort to help brands and designers to meet these needs to try to include every skin tone match imaginable, and to ensure the guide is reflective of true coloring across a wider array of skin colors.
The Pantone SkinTone Guide was developed by Pantone color scientists by measuring thousands of actual skin tones across the full spectrum of human skin types. Now, the newly expanded 2023 SkinTone™ Guide includes 28 new shades in addition to the 110 existing SkinTone™ Guide shades. These 28 new shades consist of a wider array of darker tones and yellow undertones, an expansion inspired and informed by Pantone customers seeking out specific color matches that represent their communities.
“Our goal is to provide an inclusive, global product, in both digital and physical spaces, that reflects our global society and empowers companies to offer more inclusive color matches for their audiences around the world, ” said Tannese Williams, Product Manager for Fashion, Home & Interiors (FHI) for Pantone. “Color inclusivity has always been an important part of our work, and we look forward to leading that charge in this next evolution of our products.”
The SkinTone™ Guide is the foundation of Pantone’s growing suite of products to ensure accuracy in skin tones across industries and technologies. In 2022, Pantone also launched Pantone SkinTone Validated, the world’s first validation program for skin tones for technology, which allows display, TV, mobile device, and printer manufacturers to have their devices tested for authentically reproducing Pantone SkinTones, derived also from the Pantone SkinTone Guide. The SkinTone™ Guide’s digital values are also available in Pantone® Connect, a digital platform that enables users to access over 15,000 Pantone® colors in every library, ensuring consistency and accuracy to help accommodate the digital and physical nature of a modern day designer’s workflow.
Applications for the Pantone® SkinTone™ Guide work across a wide array of industries, with Pantone clients who leverage the tool work across fashion (apparel, costume design and intimates), beauty (cosmetics and skincare) and product design (digital and gaming, toys, and prosthetics).
Shantell Richardson, Co-owner of Trim Knowtions, who provides high quality branding and fashion embellishments for creative designs, said of the product, “For years the apparel industry has been without the vocabulary to describe the full breadth of skin tones we embody. The Pantone Skintone tool acts as a new dictionary, redefining our understanding and expanding our standards around the word “nude”. When it comes to trimmings and accessories, materials in a wide range of neutral skin tones provide the perfect foundation for beadwork, particularly in bridal wear.”
The Pantone® SkinTone™ Guide is immediately available on all Pantone platforms. As part of the launch, Pantone will also release a special edition Pantone Beauty Bundle, for Cosmetic and Beauty Product Developers who want to take their creativity to the next level. It includes four products that provide access to over 2,800 Pantone Colors for Fashion, Home + Interiors, as well as 138 spectrally matched skin tones product sets for their special edition Skintone™ Guide. For more information on how the Skintone™ Guide is used across industries, please visit www.pantone.com/skintone.
Posted: March 15, 2023
Source: Pantone
