Peach Fuzz is Pantone's Colour of The Year for 2024, reflecting a need for kindness

We almost missed this year's big announcement from the global authority on colour, as Pantone quietly released its Colour of The Year late last week. Peach Fuzz, or Pantone 13-1023, didn't so much explode into our creative lives; it instead landed with a quiet, soft bump. Described as a "compassionate and nurturing soft peach shade conveying a heartfelt kindness", it's a velvety hue that picks up on our need to find more calm and peace after a tumultuous 12 months.

It also marks the 25th anniversary since Pantone began this annual ritual, informing us of its officially chosen colour each year. And it's worlds apart from 2023's choice, Magenta, which was all about AI and the virtual world.

Reading the room, Pantone thought a gentle peach whose "all-embracing spirit enriches mind, body, and soul" was better placed after recent events. Instead of focusing on AI and technological advances, Pantone has realised many of us crave community, collaboration, and togetherness.

"A cosy peach hue softly nestled between pink and orange, Peach Fuzz brings belonging, inspires recalibration, and an opportunity for nurturing, conjuring up an air of calm, offering us a space to be, feel, and heal and to flourish from whether spending time with others or taking the time to enjoy a moment by ourselves," explains Leatrice Eiseman of Pantone Color Institute. "Drawing comfort from Peach Fuzz, we can find peace from within, impacting our well-being. An idea as much as a feeling, it awakens our senses to the comforting presence of tactility and cocooned warmth."

To bring Peach Fuzz to the masses, Pantone has partnered with various brands across lifestyle, retail, beauty and interiors. It has also collaborated with Motorola, which will launch two limited-edition phones in the peachy hue next year.

Not convinced this shade is the right choice for 2024? We're actually sold, as Laurie from Pantone adds: "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 the comfort of being close to those we love. The colour is one whose warm and welcoming embrace conveys a message of compassion and whose cosy sensibility brings people together and enriches the soul." Perhaps a little peachy softness is what we're all craving right now.