Forecast colors provide information about colors and greatly influence color plans in fashion-related industries. Forecast colors are proposed and selected 18 to 24 months ahead of commercial needs by overseas and domestic public agencies and various intelligent agencies. However, until now scarce research has been done to determine how much forecast colors are actually reflected in the market. This paper attempts to predict which colors will be chosen to be the next forecast colors. To find out the answer to this question, we examined how much forecast colors were reflected in women's wear for the 12-year period between 1994 and 2006. First, we found a correlation coefficient between forecast colors and women's wear colors. The forecast colors which manufacturers used to make women's wear closely reflected the forecast colors that were proposed 18 months earlier. Second, we examined forecast colors and the time of their appearance in women's wear. Light pink and dark brown showed a positive correlation as the appearance and frequency of use of these two colors in women's wear corresponded well to the forecast colors. In contrast, however, some colors did not show a positive correlation. For example, the appearance and frequency of use of dark blue and black for women's wear exceeded those predicted by forecast colors, and other colors such as dark red had already been reflected in women's wear six months after the proposal of forecast colors. Third, we discussed the features of each color according to the average appearance rate and variant coefficient. As for women's wear colors, they were largely consistent with the distribution of forecast colors, with the exception of white and black. However, focusing on both variant coefficients, we found that the variant coefficient of women's wear colors exceeded that of forecast colors and the proposals of forecast colors were well reflected in women's wear colors.
