Exit Subdued Colours, Enter Bold Hues

Archroma is a global colour and specialty chemicals company headquartered in Reinach near Basel, Switzerland.

Archroma, a global leader in colour and specialty chemicals, who pioneered custom colour engineering in textile and fashion, recently sponsored a seminar with founder of Design Seeds, Jessica Colaluca, during this year’s PrintSource New York exhibition, that focused on the use of “colour Anthropology” and how recent global political events including the election of Donald Trump and the passing of BREXIT may alter the already established fashion industry colour palette for the upcoming season.

“Colour has long been a form of self-expression over the years,” says Colaluca, “The US election of Donald Trump impacted the colours we are – and will be – wearing this upcoming season. While not in the literal sense of red, white and blue being patriotic, but the notion of Americana and how people want to relate to it was shaken.”

In many ways, the “modern folk/hipster” aesthetic was born in reaction to “consumerism gone wild,” which made natural colours make sense the past three years, but with the volatility of politics, nationally and globally, it makes sense the aesthetic will evolve dramatically once again, allowing for a feeling of empowerment, optimism, and self-expression.

Colaluca points to strong fashion trends like flannel shirts and red dad caps that have dominated the market such as Modern Folk and Americana start blurring political lines of very different people with distinctly different ethos. As early as Q4 2016, colour anthropologists could see a fallout coming on this trend aesthetic in the hipster and early adopter segments because the aesthetics cross over with people of very different political and cultural beliefs, therefore separating themselves from a belief system they don’t share.

To address the fast pace of these shifting colour trends, Colaluca highly recommends that fashion designers and brands leverage tools like Archroma’s colour Atlas system.

“The colour Atlas has beautiful modern colours that are constantly relevant,” said Colaluca. “As a designer, this is critical due to a quickly shifting consumer. And, if it doesn’t have the exact colour I need, I can request a custom standard to achieve exactly the shade or hue I am looking for.”

Archroma is a global colour and specialty chemicals company headquartered in Reinach near Basel, Switzerland. It operates with 3,000 employees over 35 countries and with 24 production sites. Its three businesses – brand and performance textile specialties, packaging and paper specialties, and coatings, adhesives and sealants – deliver specialised performance and colour solutions to meet customers’ needs in their local markets, touching and colouring people’s lives every day, everywhere.

Archroma is passionate about delivering leading and innovative solutions, enhancing people’s lives and respecting the planet. The company is committed to challenging the status quo in the deep belief that it can make its industry sustainable; an approach reflected in its innovations, world-class quality standards, high service levels and cost-efficiency. Products enhanced, colours enhanced, performance enhanced – “Life enhanced.”

Archroma colour Management provides innovative solutions to manage colour standards and palettes along the whole textile chain for retailers, brands, vendors, and textile mills. Archroma offers the required tools—through web-based software and customized services—for colour searching, colour matching, colour standards, and the communication of seasonal colour palettes. Archroma’s goal is to help its customers achieve accurate colour first, accelerate their time to market with our tools, services, and support systems.

Jessica Colaluca brings her passion for colour to the masses through Design Seeds, a blog she began in May of 2009. Design Seeds has become a premiere colour resource for both designers and enthusiasts, featuring inspirational images from global collaborators in combination with Jessica’s colour work. With over a million followers across social media, Jessica is also seen as a leading colour and trend influencer. Prior to Design Seeds, she worked in-house at Ford, Reebok, and Timberland. With a depth of experience and love for designing streetwear, Jessica is launching the rob-bot.co lifestyle brand in Spring 2017.