The following is the rest of the original color evolution blog post that I wrote with a few updates at the end for the retiring in colors and last year’s entry as well!
As we enter our 35th year in business and I enter my 23rd year with Stampin’ Up! In June I thought it would be fun to take a look at our fascination with color! I believe one of the reasons this company is strong and continues to be is definitely multi-faceted – great leadership and great products but our color coordination is second to none! It is one of the many things I love about this company, the colors are both classic and trendy, and the color coordination among our product lines is outstanding.
It is hard to fathom that 35 years ago, the company was founded with not one of their own ink colors in 1988! Stampin’ Up! didn’t release their own line of signature alitereral colors until their 1997-1998 catalog. In this catalog they introduced four color families Bold Brights, Rich Regals, Soft Subtles and Earth Elements – I am proud to say I remember those color families and still refer to myself as a BOLD BRIGHT GIRLS!!
They started from the very first release with their fascination with alliteration of color names with Old Olive, still around today as one of the original colors, Taken with Teal, Summer Sun, Yo Yo Yellow, Brilliant Blue and many others.
The original color families started with these colors:
Bold Brights: Glorious Green, Green Galore, Gable Green, YoYo Yellow, Only Orange, Rocket Red, Pink Passion, Positively Pink, Orchid Opulence, Lovely Lilac, Brilliant Blue and Tempting Turquoise.
Rich Regals: Not Quite Navy, Eggplant Envy, Forest Foliage, Baroque Burgundy, Night of Navy, Bordering Blue, Rose Red, Brocade Blue, Rose Romance, Ballet Blue, marvelous Magenta and Taken with Teal.
Soft Subtles: Perfect Plum, Pale Plum, Blush Blossom, Mellow Moss, Barely Banana, Sage Shadow, Lavender Lace, Mauve Mist, Almost Amethyst, Mint Melody, Bliss Blue, and Pretty in Pink.
Earth Elements: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Really Rust, Cameo Coral, Ruby Red, More Mustard, Summer Sun, Luscious Lime, Old Olive, Garden Green, Going Grey, and Basic Black.
We have gone through several color refreshes, in 2005, 2010, 2013, 2018 and 2023.
We introduced the idea of hot trendy colors collections that would be around originally for just a year in 2006 with the first In Color Collection of six colors. We later changed the program to 5 colors to remain for 2 years alternating with a second color collection in 2010.
Today I have put together charts of the In Color Program starting with the six 2006 In Color Collection featuring: Vintage Violet, Buckaroo Blue, Cool Caribbean, Marigold Morning, True Thyme and Cranberry Crisp.