PANTONE VIEW Colour Planner Spring/Summer 2013 Emphasizes Unity and Connectedness Through Color

Pantone LLC, an X-Rite company (NASDAQ: XRIT) and the global authority on color and provider of professional color standards for the design industries, today announced the Spring/Summer 2013 edition of PANTONE® VIEW Colour Planner. This multi-discipline color forecast, titled unity&CO, highlights the key color palettes for women’s wear, menswear, active wear, cosmetics, lifestyle and industrial, and graphic design.

PANTONE VIEW Colour Planner Spring/Summer 2013 pushes individuals to unite with one another again by rediscovering the power in numbers and embracing a new culture of unity. The power of one can be great, but the power of many is even more formidable as heritage and traditions are rediscovered in a modern, digitized manner.

The same applies to color, as it too evolves from creating an awestruck response by its power and brightness alone. As the use of color increases, it becomes more connected to material, shape and form in an integral way.

“Recent color block stories on the catwalk have paved the way for a new sense of color confidence among consumers. For some time, color alone has been a significant factor in purchasing decisions. Today, equally important is the context of those color statements – the finish, fabric and form in which it is used,” said Laurie Pressman, vice president of fashion, home and interiors at Pantone.

PANTONE VIEW Colour Planner Spring/Summer 2013 contains the following eight palettes:

• CO-nversationSlowly emerging from white, mauve and fuchsia develop into delicate hues, while a warm sand tone forms a stable base for the more ethereal pink. The resulting range is subtle and delicate, infusing a sense of calm and serenity.

• CO-llaborationA new approach to neutrals, dusted pink, greeny-blue and burnt yellows create a family of easy base colors for outerwear and interiors alike.

• CO-nnectedConnected is a color range for celebrating enthusiasm and the vitality of life, as yellow emerges from pure white, diluted and matte at first then gaining energy to end up reflecting the sun.

• CO-mmunityA new level of natural colors which are easy to mix and use, replacing black for a far more exotic approach – dry browns, watered browns, wood browns and earth browns.

• CO-ntainBased on naturals; simple, refined whites like eggshell; flesh tones, which reinforce the belief that neutrals are becoming more colored; warm and static black with deep navy and duck-egg blue.

• CO-mpanionA monumental simplicity of colors with their feet in nature suggests combinations of confident opposites or intimate tonalities. It is a core baseline palette of blues that frames and sets all the key accents.

• CO-llectiveBrights move from the primary spectrum of past seasons into a new fluorescent range. These super strong colors are paired with a family of soft sisters: five sweetened pastel tones.

• CO-nvivialSatisfying a demand for brighter color, but framed in more tasteful tones, the conviviality palette has all the personality one would expect from a family of brights, but allows for a more practical color application.

unity&CO also looks at how color has evolved and become more connected to one another:

• Blues are turning away from the watery hues of the past and becoming more of a basic building block, assuming the role that black used to play.
• Color seems to be touching everything – even eternal neutrals like sand and beige. Neutrals have transformed and the new calling is for basic tones that are shaded and imbued with peaceful and beautiful color.
• Brights continue to evolve as they are paired together or weaved into larger groups, exuding drama and newness.
• Metallics have moved away from all-over surface coatings to integrated and broken effects worked within structures and materials.
• Blacks have no beginning and no end – it has been reborn not as one single black but transformed into many different disguises, intensities, and militant options as a result of its marriage to light, texture, material and depth.
• The importance of Brown remains – not just in their own right, but as alternative base colors and companion tones in harmonies.

Published bi-annually and 18 to 24 months in advance of the season, the PANTONE VIEW Colour Planner is based on the PANTONE FASHION + HOME Color System, the most widely used and recognized color standard in the world. The book is produced by a team of leading visionaries from all over the world with expertise in different disciplines, providing a comprehensive color-forecasting service for multiple design areas.

Within each of the season’s most directional color palettes, a general introduction outlines the colors included and the philosophy behind them. In addition, a specific breakdown of each palette highlights harmonies, suggested color combinations, and suitable patterns and fabrics according to end use. Individual color swatch cards for all 62 colors, housed in a protective box at the back of the book, are also included, along with a CD containing imagery for use in presentations and storyboards.

Pricing and Availability

The PANTONE VIEW Colour Planner Summer 2013 is available immediately for U.S. $750 from Pantone at www.pantone.com/vcpss2013 or from PANTONE distributors nationwide. Visit www.pantone.com or call (888) PANTONE for a list of distributors. PANTONE VIEW Colour Planner is published bi-annually by Metropolitan Publishing BV.

About Pantone

Pantone, a wholly owned subsidiary of X-Rite, Incorporated, has been the world’s color authority for nearly 50 years, providing design professionals with products and services for the colorful exploration and expression of creativity. Always a source for color inspiration, Pantone now offers paint and designer-inspired products and services for consumers. More information is available at www.pantone.com.

About X-Rite

X-Rite, Incorporated, is the global leader in color science and technology. The company, which now includes color industry leader Pantone, develops, manufactures, markets and supports innovative color solutions through measurement systems, software, color standards and services. X-Rite’s expertise in inspiring, selecting, measuring, formulating, communicating and matching color helps users get color right the first time and every time, which translates to better quality and reduced costs. X-Rite serves a range of industries, including printing, packaging, photography, graphic design, video, automotive, paints, plastics, textiles, dental and medical. For further information, please visit www.xrite.com.

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