ISPO Textrends: There is more to color than meets the eye

• The Role of Color
• Color Trends for Fall/Winter 26/27
• The Technical Aspects of Color in Textiles
• Core Palette
• 4 x Satellite Color Palettes
  1. Capture
  2. Collective
  3. Natural Nuance
  4. Transcend

What does color mean to you? Is it the visibility, the warmth, the audacity, or the understated elements a hue can bring to a product? Despite the naysayers who say color trends should not exist, color is essential to us as consumers, not just for personal taste, but for various reasons.

From protective elements in the sports and outdoor sector to camouflage aspects for safety. Color connects brands’ logos with consumers, stimulates the brain, and also can have an emotional effect on us, as well as featuring in different cultures.

Color identifies boundaries and indicates opposing teams in sports; it can be spicy, fluorescent, or gentle in pastel hazy tones. It can reflect light and heat and identifies the pole position in racing and team sports for avid sporting spectators. It influences how we react to situations, an important aspect of the sports and outdoor industry. Most importantly, color is key in what sometimes can be seen as a very gray world.

At ISPO Textrends, the Fall/Winter 26/27 color palettes aren’t directives; they share the direction in which we see inspiration in many areas through lifestyle, technology, textile developments, sport, music, and art, from street to classical. The colors that take a position in the palette for the season are a result of our research. We aren’t here to dictate that particular hues should dominate, instead, we are sharing our ideas.  You are the creatives and designers; you know your market, your consumers, and, hopefully, your product range. We want to share our color moods, complementing existing palettes you may be working on, for you to pick and play with as you choose.

For many brands, certain colors run season to season, which makes sense when you have the perfect recipe for a color that sells, a sustainable option with lab dips confirmed, and the CMYK defined in the dyestuff. Color is subjective; an injection of new colorways can also be incorporated through trims and accessories to update established tones, color can take on a different appearance depending on the substrate.

Color tones can be further enhanced through lacquered performance finishes, delustered effects, and new print techniques, all pertinent in the outdoors sector, especially with protective coatings and membranes. Whether natural or synthetic, wet dyed, yarn-dyed, sublimation dyed or piece dyed, digitally printed or dope dyed, whatever the final decision, the color will create character befitting the fabric or trim.

With ISPO Textrends, the color palettes shared for the season aren’t just shared for textiles, they are here to inspire all soft equipment and hardware related to sports and outdoor activities.

The color spirit we publish each season is inspired by cultural and consumer moods we are picking up globally. We aren’t here to enforce any one color and berate a brand if it breaks rank. We aim to share and collaborate, so we always lead with a CORE palette plus four satellites for interplay. You don’t have to introduce an entire new color range each season. ISPO Textrends’ color offering aims to be suggestive. You can mix and match, pull and accent, or take on the whole hue.

Whether it is a seasonal colorway or a tone for tipping, color will always be important, but it must also come from the brand's creative soul. This season’s palettes take on carousel-inspired circularity—pick and mix or play it safe—the choice is yours!

As with many brands, a core palette is the anchor of each season. Here, you will find your classic tones, black and white, and variations of the primary color palette, red, green, yellow, and neutrals.

This season, the CORE inspiration pulls from a stoic direction. Strength and clarity are features as we run with our traditional black, white, and grays, with the traditional primary tones taking on a more refined hue. There is an intensity to this season’s CORE—bold, strong, and clear—an ambitious oxymoron for the base rock as hues appear differently depending on the fabric content and finish.

The concept of the satellite palettes is to interplay tones with core colors and existing bestsellers. The satellite palettes can also contrast and complement each other too, this is all about being playful in achieving the best result for your brand.

Color ref credit:

• PANTONE® and other Pantone trademarks are the property of Pantone LLC.
• Pantone® TPG color references are for general guidance only.