I Foraged the Internet for Mushroom Brown
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Maybe it’s a reaction to the bright swaths of primary color ushered in by kindercore homewares and gamer LED strips — but lately, I’m seeing a ton of clothes and housewares in pathologically subtle shades of brown. Ecrus, raisins, chestnuts, umbers, bronzes, tobaccos. Many of the shades are natural in origin — the flinty undertones of undyed wool, fermented persimmon overdyed with iron, the dusty clay color of Foxfibre cotton.
I’ve been gravitating toward a shade I call “mushroom brown,” which is on the purplish-grayish corner of the spectrum. It’s what you’d get if you boiled a pot of shiitakes for many hours crossed with the color of brown plastic coffee stirrers. (It’s not the only color mushrooms can produce — for the full spectrum, check out my favorite website, the Mushroom Color Atlas.) I’ve also seen it called “tobacco” and “walnut”; it’s close to “Mocha Mousse,” Pantone’s 2025 color of the year, which is a hair richer and warmer. Unfortunately, most shopping websites do not yet offer the option to filter between microbrowns, so I’ve scoured the internet for 19 examples of my favorite shade.
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Baserange can always be counted upon to have a million different shades of brown; I love the Mara brown color from its most recent collection.
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A vintage-y mushroom-brown pocket T-shirt.
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Bizen-yaki is a Japanese style of pottery characterized by high-iron clay fired unglazed at very high heat. The flame and ash can produce a variegated brownish-black surface.
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A mushroom-y brown and red plaid and a suiting wool shirt with a detachable scarf from from ZN Ali. (Both come in three standard sizes, but the brand also offers custom sizing for free.)
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Are Studio Field Bag
A cute little net bag with leather offcut trim from L.A. brand Are Studio.
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New York’s favorite post-pandemic pull-on pant in a morel brown.
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The baseball cap of Black creative Brooklyn, as reported by Tembe Denton-Hurst, in portobello brown and off-white.
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Azur Plissé Tank Top
A hand-dyed, hand-pleated 100 percent silk tank with pleats that remind me of mushroom gills.
[Editor’s note: The tank is sold out from U.S. retailers, but Azur makes it to order with delivery from France in two to six weeks. The mushroomy color is called Dark Acacia.]
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A hemp-cotton blend hoodie from Evan Kinori, a brand beloved by natural-fiber nerds.
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The legendary Jungle Moc (“I once regarded them as sexless, but now see them as a direct portal to the erotic,” says Kate Berlant) in a shiitake-esque shade of grayish brown.
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And a mushroomy pair of cotton-nylon socks to wear them with.
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A graphic-novel translation of the poem “L’arciere Ha Jo Han uccide un fiume,” by Italian avant-garde poet Corrado Costa.
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One XXL pair of Wales Bonner track pants left at Net-a-Porter …
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… And a less expensive pair of track pants from Nike.
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Mater Soap Pine Bar
Smoky pine soap from status hand-soap maker Mater.
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“I have these and they are indeed mushroom brown,” says Strategist senior editor Hilary Reid.
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This roundup would not be complete without Lauren Manoogian, our lady of microbrowns.
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The ultimate mushroom-brown houseware: a mushroom.
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