Sherwin-Williams to Pantone Converter
Pick a Sherwin-Williams color to find the closest Pantone match. Matching uses Delta E 2000 against the full Pantone Solid Coated catalog (2,371 colors). Results are visual approximations only — always verify with a physical Pantone chip before committing to a print specification.
What is Sherwin-Williams to Pantone conversion?
Sherwin-Williams and Pantone are fundamentally different color systems. Sherwin-Williams is an architectural paint brand: its colors are pre-mixed pigments applied to walls, trim, and exteriors. Pantone is a graphic-arts standard: its colors are printing inks applied to paper, packaging, and textiles. No official cross-reference exists, because the two systems were never designed to be interchangeable.
What this converter does is find the visually closest Pantone reference to any Sherwin-Williams color, using a perceptually-tuned distance metric (Delta E 2000). That's useful for designers who want a print-appropriate analog of a paint color — for a brochure that reproduces a room photo, or a brand identity that includes both painted surfaces and printed materials.
How the conversion works
- Convert the Sherwin-Williams HEX to RGB, then to CIELAB.
- Compute Delta E 2000 between the Sherwin-Williams LAB and each of the 2,371 Pantone Solid Coated colors' LAB values.
- Rank by lowest Delta E, returning the top five closest Pantone matches.
Delta E 2000 is the CIE standard for perceptual color difference. It accounts for the fact that the human eye is more sensitive to certain hue regions than others, so a Delta E 3 difference in the blues is genuinely comparable to a Delta E 3 difference in the yellows. Older Delta E 1976 metrics do not have this property.
Accuracy and limitations
- Different media. Paint reflects light through pigment; ink absorbs light through paper. Even a "perfect" on-screen match will look different when printed vs painted.
- Sheen matters. Sherwin-Williams offers the same color in matte, eggshell, satin, semi-gloss, and gloss. Under directional lighting, gloss versions look noticeably different from matte versions of the same color.
- Limited paint set. Our Sherwin-Williams reference includes 40 widely-used colors, not the full ~2,000-color library. If your color is outside the reference set, use the HEX code from Sherwin-Williams directly in our HEX to Pantone converter.
Use cases
- Printed reproductions of painted spaces. A brochure with a photo of a room painted in a specific Sherwin-Williams color needs a Pantone approximation for print.
- Brand identity with both paint and print. Companies with painted physical spaces plus printed collateral often need matching Pantone references for their paint colors.
- Interior design presentation. Physical samples are best, but Pantone chips give designers a compact, portable reference.
- Set and packaging design. Props and packaging must match painted walls under photography — Pantone is the print-side specification.
Common mistakes
- Ordering Pantone inks from a screen match without physical proofing — always verify with Pantone chips.
- Assuming the closest match is "the" Pantone equivalent — the closest Pantone to Sherwin-Williams Alabaster is not the same as the "official" Alabaster Pantone. There is no official Pantone equivalent.
- Confusing coated and uncoated Pantone — the same code printed on coated vs uncoated stock looks meaningfully different.
- Ignoring sheen when matching to print — matte-painted walls reproduce differently in print than glossy-painted walls of the same color.
Frequently asked questions
How accurate is Sherwin-Williams to Pantone matching?
The conversion is a visual approximation, not an official mapping. Sherwin-Williams paint and Pantone inks are produced with different pigments on different substrates, so no Sherwin-Williams and Pantone code pair is perfectly identical. We use Delta E 2000, the current CIE standard for perceptual color difference, to find the closest visual match in the Pantone library. Verify with a physical Pantone chip before relying on the match for brand-critical work.
What is the closest Pantone to Sherwin-Williams Naval (SW 6244)?
SW 6244 Naval (#2F3D4C) is a deep blue-gray. The closest Pantone codes are typically in the 282 C to 289 C range — Pantone 282 C (#1A2333) and Pantone 289 C (#0C2340) both sit near Naval in the deep-navy family, though Naval has a slightly warmer, more muted cast. Delta E 2000 values in the 5–8 range are typical — close enough to feel like siblings, not close enough to be interchangeable.
Can I use this tool to specify Pantone for a print job?
Not directly. This tool gives a visual approximation, not a production specification. If you need to reproduce a Sherwin-Williams color in printed material, your best approach is to (a) get a physical Sherwin-Williams chip, (b) match it against physical Pantone chips, and (c) verify with the printer. Screen-based matching is a starting point, not a print specification.
Why do Pantone matches vary by paper stock?
Pantone publishes two reference libraries: Solid Coated (C) and Solid Uncoated (U). The same Pantone code printed on coated paper looks slightly different than the same code on uncoated paper. Our reference set uses Solid Coated (C) values. If your job is on uncoated stock, your actual printed result will shift slightly lighter, warmer, and less saturated than the C value shown here.
Are Sherwin-Williams color codes trademarked?
Sherwin-Williams color names and codes are trademarks of Sherwin-Williams Company. This page is not affiliated with Sherwin-Williams. The color values shown are widely published approximations and are used here for reference and comparison only.