In 2026, this model has lost its previous effectiveness. The reason is the radical acceleration of consumer cycles and the shift to data-driven demand management.
Year-long forecast in a world of month-long trends
The classic scheme involves choosing one shade 12 months ahead. However, the actual lifecycle of a visual trend today is 30-60 days. Its peak is formed by the algorithms of social platforms, marketplaces and search engines.
According to the monitoring of search activity and user behavior in the “Home and Interior” segment for the last quarter, there are sharp short-term spikes in demand for shade categories that do not coincide with the official recommendations of industry institutions.
In other words, the market has started to react faster than centralized forecasts are formed.
For businesses, this means one thing: the source of trends has shifted from expert committees to big data analytics.
Whereas previously the competitive advantage was the focus on institutional forecasting (including Pantone solutions), today the key factor is the speed of reaction to behavioral signals.
In this regard, market analysts claim that the new model for the fashion industry looks as follows:
– Real-time monitoring of search and transactional data;
– testing of micro-collections or pilot batches;
– scaling up within 2-3 weeks if demand is confirmed.
Companies with flexible logistics, short production cycles and access to analytics benefit. For large corporations with a long supply chain, a fixed “color of the year” becomes a risk – investments in the trend may not pay off by the time the product reaches the market.
Planning cycles are shortening. Annual planning is giving way to quarterly and even monthly adjustments.
The new reality
A key shift in 2026 is turning the subjective “mood of the age” into a measurable metric. Algorithms analyze millions of user actions – from clicks to completed purchases – and build a picture of demand more accurately and quickly than any expert advice.
This does not mean the disappearance of Pantone as a brand. But its role is being transformed: from a strategic navigator, it is becoming part of the information background.
For business, the conclusion is obvious: in the age of algorithms, the winner is not the one who is the first to announce a trend, but the one who is the first to capture it in data and monetize it in time. Reaction speed and access to analytics are becoming more important than symbolic authority.
