Pantone Inc. is a corporation headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey, USA. The company is best known for its Pantone Matching System (PMS), a proprietary color space used in a variety of industries, primarily printing, though sometimes in the manufacture of colored paint, fabric, and plastics. Pantone's current general manager is Ron Potesky.

On 23 August 2007, X-Rite Inc, a supplier of color measurement instruments and software, announced it had reached an agreement to purchase Pantone Inc for $180 million. The deal was completed in October 2007.

Overview

Pantone was founded in 1962 as a small business manufacturer of color cards for cosmetics companies. The company was bought by Lawrence Herbert, who had been an employee since 1956 changed its direction to developing the first color matching system in 1963.

The company's primary products include the Pantone Guides, which consist of a large number of small (approximately 6×2 inches or 15×5 cm) thin cardboard sheets, printed on one side with a series of related color swatches and then bound into a small "fan deck". For instance, a particular "page" might contain a number of yellows of varying tints.

The idea behind the PMS is to allow designers to 'color match' specific colors when a design enters production stage—regardless of the equipment used to produce the color. This system has been widely adopted by graphic designers and reproduction and printing houses for a number of years now. Pantone recommends that PMS Color Guides be purchased annually as their inks become more yellow over time. Color variance also occurs within editions based on the paper stock used (coated, matte or uncoated), while interedition color variance occurs when there are changes to the specific paper stock used.