Peach Fuzz is Pantone’s official color of the year for 2024, which also marks the 25th anniversary of the company’s annual hue forecasting. “Peach Fuzz brings belonging, inspires recalibration and an opportunity for nurturing, conjuring up an air of calm,” said Leatrice Eisman, Executive Director at the Pantone Color Institute, in a statement announcing the news. “Peach Fuzz awakens our senses to the comforting presence of tactility and cocooned warmth.”
According to the company, this choice came after a year full of “turmoil in many aspects of our lives.” The pastel, sherbet-y hue of Peach Fuzz is one that Pantone hopes will comfort those seeking a sense of calm.
While 2023 may have been a year filled with Barbie-core-approved hot vibrant pinks and “Renaissance”-ready chrome silvers, this turn toward muted fruitiness offers a markedly more gentle, serene visual experience.
“Subtly sensual, Pantone 13-1023 Peach Fuzz is a heartfelt peach hue bringing a feeling of tenderness and communicating a message of caring and sharing, community and collaboration,” read a statement from the company.
The color is also a 180 from last year’s Viva Magenta — a “carmine red” created with the help of AI technology. While still within a warmer palette, Peach Fuzz certainly feels like a step away from the bright, extrovert-leaning feelings associated with 2023’s beaming tint — a vivid color to match the energy resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic nearing its end.
“We see an increased focus on community and people across the world reframing how they want to live and evaluating what is important — that being comfort of being close to those we love,” Laurie Pressman, vice president of the Pantone Color Institute, added in a statement. “In the spirit of Pantone 13-1023 Peach Fuzz, we reflect back on the last 25 years of the Pantone Color of the Year program grateful to provide an avenue where designers and color enthusiasts all over the world can engage in a conversation about color, be inspired by color and showcase their creativity within their communities. We look forward to continuing this for many more years to come.”