Pattern serves the hair the industry ignored.

Pattern Beauty is a lesson in a mission-built brand. Launched in 2019 by Tracee Ellis Ross (actress and daughter of Diana Ross) after a roughly decade of development, it makes hair care specifically for curly, coily and tight-textured hair — “the curl and coil community” — a segment the mainstream long underserved. It’s a personal mission as much as a product line.

The design is warm, joyful and retro, nodding to the 1970s soul era of Ross’s upbringing: terracotta, amber and golden-brown earth tones, a bold rounded retro wordmark, and expressive photography celebrating natural hair and Black joy. The range spans cleansers, conditioners, leave-ins, masks, gels and signature tools (the Shower Brush), and expanded into body care in 2025.

(Honest notes: Pattern is private, independent and majority-owned by Ross, who kept creative control and shares the CEO role (she named a co-CEO in 2023); she brought in partners for capital but did not sell the company. Its funding and revenue are not publicly disclosed, so we won’t cite figures. No official brand hex is published.)

Pattern lives in warm retro-’70s tones. Click a swatch to copy the hex.

Pattern’s identity is warm, soulful and retro — a terracotta, a caramel, a burnt orange, a cream, and an ink. The palette is a set of 1970s-soul earth tones — terracotta, amber, caramel and golden brown — evoking warmth, heritage and joy. It signals celebration and belonging rather than clinical hair “treatment.” The honest caveat: with no published brand hex, these tones are an original, unofficial interpretation, not first-party values.

The lesson is a warm, period palette can carry heritage and joy. Pattern’s world is a 1970s soul album cover. For designers, it is a reminder that a committed, warm retro palette (plus expressive, celebratory photography) can make a mission-driven brand feel joyful and rooted, not corporate. The takeaways: choose a palette that carries the story (’70s soul, heritage); pair it with celebratory imagery; and treat any single hex as unofficial — using a deep burnt-orange for small text so the warm tones stay rich.

The wordmark spirit is a rounded retro sans — warm and joyful.

Pattern’s identity carries a warm, joyful, retro spirit — a bold rounded wordmark over celebratory natural-hair photography. A rounded retro sans captures the mood: it is soulful and friendly, the register of a brand rooted in the 1970s and in a genuine mission. Set against warm earth tones, the rounded type feels warm and celebratory — exactly the retro-soul personality Pattern carries. It is joyful rather than clinical, mirroring products made to celebrate texture, not tame it. (Pattern’s real wordmark is a trademark and trade dress we describe but do not reproduce, and the exact typeface is not published, so we don’t assert it.) Because the specific mark is not ours to use, the honest description is “a rounded retro spirit,” not the Pattern logo. The type behaves like the brand: warm, joyful and soulful.

Pattern stands for the curl and coil community.

Pattern Beauty is a lesson in a genuine mission expressed through warm design. Tracee Ellis Ross spent a decade building a line for curly, coily and tight-textured hair — a community the industry ignored — and dressed it in a joyful, retro-soul identity that celebrates rather than “fixes” texture. Fame gave it a megaphone; the mission and the warmth gave it meaning. The differentiator is an authentic mission plus a warm, celebratory aesthetic.

For designers and brand-builders, Pattern offers a clear takeaway: let a real mission shape the whole identity. The lessons: serve an underserved community authentically; choose a palette and imagery that celebrate (warm ’70s soul, natural-hair joy); and keep ownership and creative control aligned with the mission. It is also a reminder to stay accurate: Pattern is independent and majority-owned by Ross (now co-CEO), with undisclosed finances — so we avoid citing figures, with the palette here an unofficial interpretation. Pattern celebrated the curl — proof that a mission can be the brand.

Keep Pattern Beauty’s identity on hand — save it to a board in the Made Good inspiration library.