Marsala Is The Official Color Of The Year For 2015

Pantone just announced the 2015 Color Of The Year, and this year's color is Marsala.

The reddish brown color is named after a wine produced in the Italian city of Marsala in Sicily. Pantone says it's equally appealing to both men and women, and flattering against all skin tones.

"Nurturing and fulfilling, Marsala is a natural fit for the kitchen and dining room - making it ideal for tabletop, small appliances, and linens throughout the home," Leatrice Eiseman - the executive director of the Pantone Color Institute who has helped decide the color for the last 14 years - explained in the press release.

"Marsala enriches our mind, body, and soul, exuding confidence and stability," she added.

Though it all sounds rather silly, retailers and designers pay attention to Pantone's yearly selections. And the "global color authority" does not take its choice lightly, either - there is a committee of color experts who search the world for the next big thing in color.

Pantone's Vice President of Consumer Licensing Lisa Herbert told Business Insider last year how the process works: "We deliver the news in a sealed envelope, and we have our representatives go out to [partner companies] in their trench coats with their suitcases. They have to sign a confidentiality agreement and the color cannot be revealed until we say so."

Celebrities, designers, and retailers then rush to fill their shelves with the color.

"It becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy because people are going into the stores asking for it," Herbert said. "[Retailers] have to have it, even if they have to scramble to do it."

For those curious, this 2014's color was "Radiant Orchid."