Pantone has announced the Color of the Year 2026: PANTONE 11-4201 Cloud Dancer, a white shade that brings a “calming influence to society”. In this blog post, we explore the color story, suggested palettes, and suitable applications.
A tricot fabric in the Cloud Dancer colorway with a stripe print is available in stock at a discounted price:
Color Story
Cloud Dancer represents a new role for white in design. Rather than acting as a blank or secondary tone, it becomes a structural color that anchors palettes, highlights materials, and enhances form.
Its airy character brings lightness without feeling fragile, while its neutrality allows it to adapt across aesthetics, from minimal and technical to soft and expressive. This makes Cloud Dancer especially relevant for collections where fabric quality, texture, and construction lead the design narrative.
How to Combine the Color of the Year
Pantone suggests seven key palettes, including:
1. Powdered Pastels
Photos by 1. Lina Kivaka 2. Ron Lach 3. Pablo Agreda
This palette features calm, gentle hues such as Lemon Icing, Raindrops on Roses, Ice Melt, Peach Dust, and others. These combinations create a light, modern mood suited for fashion, lifestyle textiles, and expressive yet restrained collections.
PCF fabrics suitable for the Powdered Pastels palette:
2. Light & Shadow
Photos by: 1. Rohtopia.com 2. Anastasia Shuraeva 3. Ksenia Chernaya
In this palette, Cloud Dancer moves easily between light and shadow, supporting subtle contrast through softened, tonal color shifts. It includes brighter shades of blue, green, yellow, purple, and gray than the first palette, such as Baltic Sea, Golden Mist, Quiet Violet, and Blue Fusion.
PCF fabrics suitable for the Light & Shadow palette:
3. Tropic Tonalities
Photos by: 1. Elina Nova 2. PeopleByOwen 3. Tolga Ahmetler
A vivid, tropical-inspired palette featuring turquoise, citrus hues, exotic florals, and warm, sunlit colors that pair beautifully with the calm, airy white of Cloud Dancer. This color palette does echo the bright color trend – like Solar Surge – we mentioned in our latest swimwear trend report.
PCF fabrics suitable for the Tropic Tonalities palette:
4. Glamour + Gleam
Photos by: 1. Karolina vnuk 2. Karola G 3. Faheem Ahamad
A timeless, fashion-forward palette of whites and greys, grounded by dark tones and elevated with accents of sultry red and deep teal.
PCF fabrics suitable for the Tropic Tonalities palette:
View more 2026 color palettes on pantone.com
Sunstate – PCF’s color palette
Images created using Generative AI exclusively for Pine Crest Fabrics
Pine Crest Fabrics offers a trend-forward swimwear color palette featuring Cloud Dancer – “Sunstate.” This direction pairs the color of the year 2026 with bright, vivid hues like pinks, oranges, yellows, and greens, making it ideal for resort and beach designs.
PCF fabrics suitable for the Sunstate palette:
Applications Across Design Categories
- Cloud Dancer works as a unifying color across various designs:
- Fashion apparel, where it enhances a silhouette and texture
- Active and performance wear, supporting clean, modern aesthetics
- Lifestyle and lounge collections, reinforcing calm and comfort
- Printed and textured fabrics, acting as a refined base that allows details to stand out
Its clarity makes it especially effective for designs that emphasize material innovation, surface interest, and thoughtful construction.
Want to Order Fabric in the Color of the Year?
Cloud Dancer is available in our U.S. stock as a stripe-printed tricot, or you can custom-order this color on most fabrics in our catalog. We’ll produce it specifically for your collection.
Contact us to learn more about available services, minimum yardage, and lead times.
Sources: Pantone.com
