Color Trends Brace for Economic Uncertainty
How will the
impending
economic downturn
influence color
trends?
by Sean Milmo
European Correspondent
milmocw@rodpub.com
The main features of recent color trends in Europe have been a greater preference for more and stronger colors and a continued move to white in key influential sectors
like the automobile market.
Now the big question is how much these
trends will be affected by a likely economic
downturn only a short time after a weak recovery in Europe from the financial crisis of 2008.
Will European consumers switch back to more
neutral or even darker colors?
Most color specialists claim, however, that a
grim economic climate will reinforce present
trends rather than reverse them.
At the Frankfurt Motor Show in September,
one of Europe’s premier automobile exhibitions,
color designers were confident that trends first
emerging before the recession would continue at
least for next few years.
“There has been a big increase in sales of
white cars in recent years, from less than two
percent to over 12 percent,” said Mark Gutjahr,
head of design at BASF Coatings’ automotive
OEM coatings solutions Europe. “This liking of
white has been driven by a combination of a
sense of sustainability, luxury and well-being.
Despite the economic conditions its popularity
will continue.
“The preference for more color will con-
tinue as well,” Gutjahr said. “Auto companies
like Ford have built a whole strategy around
color because it is about emotion in the way a
car looks both outside and inside.”
A driving force behind the preference for
more color in the car sector in Europe will be a
desire among auto owners to express their own
individuality. “As a result we are seeing more
vivid, bold colors in cars,” Gutjahr said.
Brown is among the colors he believes will
continue to become more prominent in the European car market. Its share of the total European
OEM market has risen over the last two years
from less than two percent to around six percent.
“It has close links with sustainability which
has been given more importance by some consumers since the recession, while it also conveys a sense of individuality,” he said.
The automobile manufacturers are currently
responding to a broad range of influences with
designers of its coatings colors keeping in close
touch with sectors outside the industry.
“We do a lot of research in areas like global
markets for fashion, fabrics and textiles as well
as social and economic trends,” said Gutjahr,
whose company has design offices for OEM coatings in Europe, North America and Asia.