September 08, 2025
The Color Conundrum: Why Finding Quality Colorful Fashion Is So Hard
HOCAdmin | Read in 8 minutes
And how with the trade wars, it will get even harder.
The heady excitement of International Fashion Week 2025 is on the move once more. Starting in New York, the shows revolve around the globe — London, Milan, and finally Paris. Fashion Week is the industry's moment to shine, and catwalks will be awash in a spectacular display of creativity and color, and beautiful textures that showcase the year’s most exciting fashion trends.
On social media, our feeds are soon filled with images of influencers, editors, stylists, and celebrities at the shows radiating with individual style in vibrant shades. These moments capture the promise of colorful fashion at its best. Yet when we step into stores, searching for these colors and textures, we often find ourselves disappointed. Finding quality colourful clothing that reflects runway energy is far harder than it should be.
As the founder of Yulan Creative, I specialize in brand strategy and creative direction for fashion and lifestyle brands. Back in 2020, I had the pleasure of working with House of Colour, the UK’s leading personal color analysis company, as a strategic consultant to help reposition and rebrand.
It was through this collaboration, and experiencing personal color analysis myself, that I discovered how surprisingly difficult it is to shop for flattering, well-made pieces in the right colors, even with a background in fashion.
Why is it so difficult to shop for quality, colorful fashion?
The Business of Color in Fashion Retail: Risk and Reward
I’ve worked closely with House of Colour for five years, a brand dedicated to helping people discover their most flattering shades. Through this work, I’ve observed a significant gap in the market, especially in the UK and the USA, regarding accessible, well-made, colorful clothing.
While color does exist in retail, those who have undergone a personal color analysis, such as House of Colour’s scientifically refined method, know how difficult it is to find pieces that truly align with their ideal palette. Learn more about House of Colour’s color analysis services.
The reason? Producing colorful clothing is a financial and logistical challenge for brands.
Fashion businesses rely on historical and now real-time sales data to guide their buying decisions, and neutral colors, such as off-white, navy, black, camel, and dark green, are reliable best-sellers. These shades are safe investments because they consistently sell through at high rates.
Fashion designers often begin collection concepts with a broad, vibrant color palette inspired by art, movies, and other cultural influences. However, as collections progress through development, they are refined and commercialized.
In today’s uncertain retail climate, companies are reluctant to take risks. Opening many ‘options’ or variations of color in the same item requires the brand to commit to significant MOQs (Minimum Order Quantities). Buyers are evaluated at weekly meetings based on their purchasing decisions and judged by sell-through performance.
“In today’s uncertain retail climate, companies are reluctant to take risks...” - McKinsey, State of Fashion 2025
Fast Fashion vs. High-End Brands: Who Risks Colorful Fashion?
Fast fashion giants like Zara and H&M do have a color advantage. Their agile supply chains enable them to test and produce trending hues quickly. They also benefit from delivering on a vast scale, so even an experimental style and color easily exceed manufacturing minimum order quantities (MOQs). If a particular shade performs well, they can restock it swiftly.
Luxury and mid-tier brands, however, operate on a different model. They must invest heavily in their inventory, often committing to large production runs. If a bold color doesn’t sell, they’re left with unsellable stock—a risk they want to avoid. From experience, I know how heartbreaking it is for designers to see that the original creative vision is significantly diluted when their collection finally hits the shelves. Companies are cautious, prioritizing sales security over experimentation. Consequently, many high-end labels are sticking firmly to their signature color palettes, for example, in the US.
- Ralph Lauren leans into navy, burgundy, and cream.
- Michael Kors favors blue hues, black, and white.
- Tory Burch is known for its classic camel and neutrals, with occasional flashes of color.
That is why Fashion Week remains so exciting to me. It is the moment when the brand's creative vision is seen in its purest form.
The Power of Color as a Strategic Brand Asset
Some premium brands have taken the color opportunity seriously. For example, founder ME+EM Clare Hornby had a bee in her bonnet regarding flattery. Flattering shape, fit, and color. Having previously worked with brands that used almost no color, such as Giorgio Armani, and with brands like Missoni, which harnessed color with such skill, it was interesting to work now with a direct-to-consumer brand eager to master color.
There was a reason behind her curiosity. When we worked together, ME+EM was a catalog and online brand with a tiny retail presence. As I developed the brand's design handwriting, we observed that every time we released a style in a bright color, sales for that style would increase and sometimes sell out immediately. This signaled that customers had an appetite for it.
Yet we also quickly realized that selling color online was not so easy, as the level of returns spiked. We concluded that the big issue was the discrepancy between the printed catalog images, the online images, and what arrived with customers. Even the name describing the color would send the items hurtling back. The level of returns was a big flag for the company.
Clare decided that action was needed and organized a group color analysis session with the team at home, led by a consultant. It was a brilliant afternoon, and even I, as a fashion designer, was blown away by how wearing the right color can immediately change your mood and feelings. That is the power of wearing a flattering color, one that enhances rather than competes.
“Consumers are increasingly seeking personalization and emotional connection in their purchases, color plays a vital role in that expression”, - Business of Fashion
It changed how we curated color as we designed, and we paid much more attention to color matching across all our assets. That diligence requires time and effort, and few companies can claim to adopt such an approach.
In the meantime, as more fashion sales become less about brick-and-mortar transactions and more online, it's no surprise that retailers take a more conservative approach. They stick to variations of colors and shapes based on what customers already know. These brands have cultivated a recognizable aesthetic for a reason, and deviating from their established palettes poses both branding and financial risks.
The Polyester Problem: Why Fast Fashion Offers More Colorful Clothing Than Luxury Brands
Another issue is the quality of colorful clothing available. Often, when you find bold hues, they’re in low-cost, synthetic fabrics like polyester or acrylic for knitwear. Mass-market retailers have the infrastructure to experiment with color in cheap textiles and yarn. They can afford to test vibrant shades in low-risk materials, but higher-end brands focusing on quality are more hesitant.
Some brands, like Uniqlo, have successfully introduced a broad color range in basics, ensuring accessibility without compromising quality. Others, like Jigsaw, have found ways to offer select pieces in multiple shades. However, for most brands, achieving high-quality fabrics and a diverse color palette remains challenging.
The Power of Volume in Fashion: Why Brands Stick to Neutral Colors
Fashion brands cultivate distinct identities, often tied to specific color schemes. Their color choices are influenced by the following:
1- Consumer Demand: Safe, neutral colors ensure profitability.
2- Production Costs: Large-volume fabric purchases drive down prices, making neutrals more cost-effective.
3- Cultural Context: Different markets have different color preferences; for instance, European brands often favour understated tones, while US brands may embrace more variety.
4- Retail Caution: In challenging times, brands stick to what sells rather than taking creative risks.
The Ongoing Struggle to Shop for Colorful Fashion
For those who have undergone personal color analysis and are actively seeking their best hues, the search for flattering, high-quality, colorful clothing can feel like an uphill battle.
Even within premium brands, color diversity is limited.
Working with companies like ME+EM, I’ve seen how brands can strategically incorporate color without compromising their aesthetic or financial security. However, such efforts remain the exception rather than the rule.
As fashion continues to evolve, we may see more brands following Uniqlo's lead and offering a wide range of colors in core wardrobe staples. But for now, the use of sophisticated color remains a design statement for most premium and designer brands. Still, it is a major commercial gamble, making it one of the most elusive elements in fashion retail.
“When buying items, your color preferences might say something about the image you are trying to project. Color preferences, from the clothes you wear to the car you drive, can sometimes make a statement about how we want other people to perceive us” - Very Well Mind
As a creative strategist and non-executive board member, I believe that color is not just a design choice, it’s a strategic brand asset. For brands willing to embrace it, the rewards are both emotional and commercial.
About Joanne
Joanne Yulan Jong is a Creative Strategist, Fashion Writer, and Author of the bestselling book The Fashion Switch: The New Rules of the Fashion Business. She is the founder of Yulan Creative, a consultancy specialising in brand strategy for fashion and lifestyle businesses. In 2020, she led the rebranding of House of Colour and continues to serve as a Non-Executive Director.
