Slate posted a neat article yesterday about the behind-the-scenes meeting of Pantone color forecasters, and the history/accuracy of color forecasting: http://www.slate.com/articles/.....ingle.html

I know Angie has blogged about color forecasting and color trends in the past, but I've always been curious about how these decisions are actually made - and I found the article a very fascinating exploration of this nebulous process.

Here's an excerpt that also summed up some of the recent challenges facing this industry:

Complicating things are the sweeping structural changes that have rippled through the world of fashion and media. Where color used to begin with the fiber producers and the color spinners, and trickled through a whole chain of trade shows and production processes, this arrangement was first upset by the rising power of retailers—who, as Shah describes it, “went right to the beginning of the chain”—and then by fast-fashion chains like Zara, who shrank the lead times that had long made forecasters useful. Not to mention the Internet, with its bevy of style sites and trend bloggers. “Colors and trends on the runway are now seen simultaneously by consumers and the trade,” says Kevin Carrigan, global creative director at Calvin Klein. “As a result, they are adopted much faster on all levels.”

Some of Angie's posts that I was reading up on relating to the topic:
http://youlookfab.com/2011/01/.....ring-2011/
http://youlookfab.com/2012/01/.....ome-alive/