Color Palettes

The Institute of Heraldry (TIOH) is a US Army organization that is responsible for providing heraldic services for all branches of the federal government to include the US Air Force. This includes designing and produce official renderings of seals and emblems. TIOH has a color palette that it used when designing and rendering emblems. This color palette can then be translated by manufacturers so they can produce patches using the appropriate military standard specification yarn.  TIOH in conjunction with the US Air Force also developed palettes for subdued, desert and Operational Camouflage Uniform (OCP) emblems.

The following tables show the official TIOH names for each of the colors, the yarn color, and the Pantone Management System (PMS) number. These are all from the TIOH. For the hex color code, the PMS number was converted on the Pantone website. PMS has different numbers for coated and coated, the hex values for coated were used in these tables.

TIOH Color Palette

Subdued Palette

Desert Palette

OCP Palette

The Institute of Heraldry Color Palette

Source: The Institute of Heraldry
(.JPG Version)

Subdued Color Palette

(Used for Green Fatigues and Battle Dress Uniform)
Source: Controlled Multiple Address Letter (CMAL) Number 95-32 (1 November 1995)

Desert Color Palette

(Used for Desert Camouflage Uniform (DCUs) and Desert Flightsuits)
Source: Controlled Multiple Address Letter (CMAL) Number 95-32 (1 November 1995)

Operational Camouflage Pattern (OCP) Palette

Source: Controlled Multiple Address Letter (CMAL) Number 18-01 (20 September 2018)