Sports Team Color Formats: Pantone, CMYK, HEX, and RGB Explained

You picked your team colors. You have a logo. Now a jersey manufacturer asks for your "Pantone code," your designer asks for a "HEX value," and your scoreboard vendor wants "RGB." These all describe the same color — but they work in completely different systems, and mixing them up leads to jerseys that come back from the printer looking nothing like your brand.

Here's what each system actually means and exactly when to use it.

HEX — for the web and digital graphics

HEX codes are six-character strings like #1A6B45. They're how colors are defined in CSS, design tools like Figma, and any digital file. HEX is a shorthand representation of an RGB value — each pair of characters encodes how much red, green, and blue light to mix.

Use HEX for: your website, social media graphics, email templates, digital-only assets, and sharing colors with web or app developers.

Don't use HEX for: anything going to a printer or jersey manufacturer. HEX values describe light, not ink — and there's no guarantee the printer's output matches what you see on screen.

RGB — for screens and broadcast

RGB defines color as three values between 0 and 255: how much red, green, and blue light to emit. It's the native color system of every screen — phones, monitors, LED scoreboards, and broadcast video.

RGB and HEX encode the same information. HEX is just RGB written in hexadecimal shorthand. Most design tools can convert between them instantly.

Use RGB for: video boards, broadcast lower-thirds, streaming overlays, and any asset going to a screen-based display.

Important: RGB is an "additive" color model (mixing light). CMYK is "subtractive" (mixing ink). This means the same color values will look different depending on which system renders them — which is why digital mockups of jerseys are never 100% accurate.

CMYK — for commercial printing

CMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key (Black). It's the four-ink system used by commercial printers for physical materials — programs, banners, posters, season tickets, and merchandise packaging.

When you send your logo to a print shop, they need CMYK values to mix their inks correctly. If you send HEX or RGB, the print shop will convert them — and the conversion won't always match what you intended.

Use CMYK for: match programs, banner printing, poster design, merchandise packaging, and anything going through a commercial printing press.

One limitation of CMYK: it can't reproduce every color. Particularly vivid greens, oranges, and purples — common in sports branding — can look duller in CMYK than they do on screen. This is the "gamut" problem, and it's why Pantone exists.

Pantone (PMS) — the only system that matters for jerseys

Pantone is a standardized color matching system used across manufacturing. Each Pantone color has a number (like PMS 348 C) that refers to a specific pre-mixed ink. Every manufacturer that licenses the Pantone system has the same physical reference for that color — which means your jerseys from a supplier in China and your caps from a vendor in the US will match.

Without Pantone codes, "forest green" to one manufacturer might be completely different from "forest green" to another. This happens constantly to teams that don't specify PMS codes.

Use Pantone for: jersey manufacturing, cap and headwear production, embroidery thread selection (converted to Madeira or Isacord thread codes), and any physical product where color consistency across vendors matters.

There are two Pantone variants to know: PMS C (Coated) for glossy or coated substrates and PMS U (Uncoated) for matte or fabric. Jersey manufacturers typically use Coated, but always confirm.

The practical summary

• Website and digital assets → HEX
• Scoreboards, broadcast, video → RGB
• Print programs, signage, banners → CMYK
• Jerseys, caps, embroidered apparel → Pantone PMS

Your brand guidelines document should list all four values for every color in your palette. That way, whoever you're working with can pull the right number without asking — and without guessing.

Converting between systems

You can convert between HEX, RGB, and CMYK precisely — they're mathematically related. Pantone is different: it's a physical standard, and converting to or from Pantone is always an approximation (finding the nearest PMS color to your HEX). For this reason, it's better to start with a Pantone color and derive your HEX/RGB/CMYK from it, rather than picking a HEX first and trying to find a Pantone match. Kit's Pantone matcher tool works in both directions.