Pantone’s Cozy Color of the Year—Mocha Mousse—and Other Thoughts on Color for Brands

Earlier this month, the Pantone Color Institute announced its Color of the Year for 2025, Pantone No. 17-1230 Mocha Mousse – a cozy, warm brown evoking the indulgent qualities of chocolate and coffee. ¹

For those not familiar with the Color of the Year program, each year since 2000, Pantone selects a color that seeks to capture and “express a global mood and an attitude, reflecting collective desire in the form of a single, distinct hue.” 2025 marks the first year Pantone has tapped a brown for its color of the moment. And while hues in the brown family may seem modest, Pantone execs share that this year’s pick “expresses a level of thoughtful indulgence. Sophisticated and lush, yet at the same time an unpretentious classic, PANTONE 17-1230 Mocha Mousse extends our perceptions of the browns from being humble and grounded to embrace aspirational and luxe.”

As with prior years, expect color-savvy designers and marketers to apply the Mocha Mousse palette to all manner of personal and home fashions, consumer products, splash advertisements, and online content.

If you are considering using Mocha Mousse (or another color) in your branding, remember that others may already have rights in the same or similar color, or your choice could invoke regulatory or other violations. Before moving forward with a shift in branding color, we encourage you to consider the following:

• Conduct a clearance search to determine whether the color(s) of interest are available for trademark use with your goods and services;
• Check existing registrations for any current color marks to see if they are due for maintenance. If so, consider adopting the new color(s) for only select models/SKUs, to allow you to maintain your existing registrations if they remain of interest;
• Consult with any relevant industry and regulatory teams before adopting a new color scheme to confirm that it is neither misleading of the nature of your product, nor likely to create consumer confusion or to cause harm.

Federal registration of color marks (particularly, single color marks) continues to be a challenge.  To improve your brand’s chances of registering a color mark, remember to instruct consumers to look for your brand’s color in the marketplace, use the color consistently to reinforce its association with your brand, and avoid referring to any functional attributes of the color –e.g., the ease of visibility of the color orange– since functional color marks are never registrable.

[1] https://www.pantone.com/color-of-the-year/2025