# Nordstrom NRF Color Code Field Guide

> Three-digit National Retail Federation color code (000 to 999) that becomes the color swatch on Nordstrom listing pages. One code per colorway: every size and size type of a colorway shares it, and two colorways in a style group never share one.

Every colorway you list on Nordstrom Marketplace needs a three-digit **NRF color code**. The code is required, Nordstrom validates it automatically before a human ever reviews the item, and it becomes the color swatch shoppers see in search results. Pick one code per colorway from the ranges below, give it to every size of that colorway, and never reuse it for another color in the same style group.

## The NRF color code

NRF stands for the National Retail Federation, the trade body whose color standard department stores share. The standard assigns every color a number from 000 to 999. The first digit tells you the color family (4 is blue, 6 is red), and the last two digits narrow it to a shade (410 is navy, 450 is light blue).

On Nordstrom Marketplace the code is a required attribute on every item in every category, from apparel and footwear to accessories and kids. Nordstrom checks it systematically: a missing or invalid code stops the item at the **Invalid data** status, and a duplicate code inside a style group comes back as a **Changes required** rejection.

## The code on Nordstrom.com

The NRF color code drives the color swatch on the product listing page, the grid of results shoppers scroll through in a category or a search. That swatch is what a shopper uses to see at a glance that your shirt comes in navy and in white. Your customer-facing color name, the **Color Description**, is what they see once they open the product page and pick a color.

The third color attribute, **Color Family**, never appears on the site. Nordstrom uses it internally and expects it to agree with the code.

## The color fields, side by side

| Field | Where it goes | Rule |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Color Description | Product page, as the color the shopper chooses | Your colorway name, spelled out with no abbreviations. Unique per colorway within a style group, for example "Medium Wash" or "Light British Tan". |
| Color Family | Internal only | Must match the images and the NRF code range. Apparel and footwear cannot use "None" unless the item is genuinely clear. |
| NRF Color Code | Color swatch on the listing page | Three digits, unique per colorway. Every size and every size type of a colorway shares the same code. |

## NRF color code ranges by color family

Nordstrom maps each range of codes to one of its selectable color families. Choose the family first, then a code inside its range.

| Color family | Code range | Shade bands inside the range |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Black | 001-019 | 001 black, 002-009 oxford, 010-019 charcoal |
| Grey | 020-039, 050-099 | 021-029 dark, 030-039 medium, 050-059 light or pastel, 060-099 open |
| Metallic (silver) | 040-049 | Silver and other light metallics |
| White | 100-199 | 100 white, 101-109 natural, 110-199 open |
| Brown | 200-219, 230-249 | 201-209 dark, 210-219 medium, 230-239 light or pastel, 240-249 open |
| Metallic (rust, copper) | 220-229 | Rust, copper and bronze metallics |
| Beige | 250-299 | 251-259 dark, 260-269 medium, 270-279 light, 280-299 open |
| Green | 300-399 | 301-309 dark, 310-319 medium, 320-329 bright, 330-339 light or pastel, 340-399 open |
| Blue | 400-439, 450-499 | 401-409 dark, 410-419 navy, 420-429 medium, 430-439 bright, 450-459 light or pastel, 460-499 open |
| Blue/Green | 440-449 | Turquoise, aqua and teal |
| Purple | 500-599 | 501-509 dark, 510-519 medium, 520-529 bright, 530-539 light or pastel, 540-599 open |
| Red | 600-649 | 601-609 dark, 610-619 medium, 620-629 bright, 630-639 light or pastel, 640-649 open |
| Pink | 650-699 | 651-659 dark, 660-669 medium, 670-679 bright, 680-689 light or pastel, 690-699 open |
| Yellow | 700-709, 720-799 | 701-709 dark, 720-729 medium, 730-739 bright, 740-749 light or pastel, 750-799 open |
| Metallic (gold) | 710-719 | Gold and brass metallics |
| Orange | 800-899 | 801-809 dark, 810-819 medium, 820-829 bright, 830-839 light or pastel, 840-899 open |
| Ivory | 900-909 | Off-white, cream and ecru |
| Burgundy | 930-939 | Wine, oxblood and other purple-reds |
| Coral | 950-959 | Peach, salmon and other pink-oranges |
| No color family | 000, 960-999 | Clear or colorless items only |

Nordstrom's selectable color families are Black, Grey, White, Ivory, Beige, Brown, Metallic, Purple, Blue, Blue/Green, Green, Yellow, Orange, Coral, Pink, Red and Burgundy. The three metallic ranges all use the single "Metallic" family.

What to know about the edges of the table:

- **Codes 910-929 and 940-949 belong to no Nordstrom color family.** The wider NRF standard treats 900-999 as overflow ranges. Nordstrom only recognizes Ivory, Burgundy and Coral inside it, so stay out of the rest unless Nordstrom's team tells you otherwise.
- **Nordstrom may want different codes than another retailer does** for the same colorway. Use Nordstrom's NRF code cheat sheet on the Seller Hub as the tie-breaker, not a code list you built for a different marketplace.

## How to choose a code, step by step

1. **Look at the product, not the name.** Judge the color from the swatch and the photography. "Midnight Orchid" is a purple; "Washed Sage" is a light green. Marketing names, fabric names and season names tell you nothing about the family.
2. **Pick the color family a shopper would filter by.** Ask which single color filter a customer would use to find this item. That family decides the range.
3. **Pick the shade band inside the range.** Bands run dark, medium, bright, light, then open. Lower numbers are darker and more saturated; higher numbers are lighter and less saturated. Use bright only for vivid, neon-like colors, and open only when nothing else fits.
4. **Use the first code in the band unless you need to separate similar colorways.** Navy is 410. If the same style also comes in a lighter navy, give it 411, so both stay inside the navy band with distinct codes.
5. **Set Color Family to the family that owns the range.** A code in 400-439 needs the Blue family, not Green, and the images must clearly show a blue product.
6. **Apply the code to the whole colorway.** Every size, and every size type, of that colorway carries the same code. Every other colorway in the style group gets a different one.

### Worked examples

| Colorway on your line sheet | Color family | NRF color code | Why |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Black | Black | 001 | The base black code |
| Heather Grey | Grey | 030 | A medium grey, so the medium band |
| Navy | Blue | 410 | The navy band starts at 410 |
| Medium Wash denim | Blue | 420 | Medium blue |
| Light Wash denim | Blue | 450 | Light or pastel blue |
| Albany Plaid, mostly blue | Blue | 450 | Prints take the dominant color; Nordstrom's own kids example uses 450 |
| Ivory | Ivory | 901 | Off-white lives in Ivory, not White |
| Wine | Burgundy | 930 | Purple-reds live in Burgundy, not Red |

Nordstrom's own example is a shirt in two washes grouped in one style group: every Medium Wash size uses 420 and every Light Wash size uses 450. If Medium Wash also comes in plus sizes inside the same group, those are 420 too.

## Rules inside a style group

A style group is every color and size of one style that Nordstrom shows on a single product page, grouped by your Variant Group Code. The color rules Nordstrom enforces inside a group are:

- **One NRF color code per colorway.** All sizes and all size types of the colorway share it.
- **No two colorways share a code**, even when the colors are close. Two washes of denim need two codes.
- **One Color Description per colorway**, never repeated at the size level.
- **Code, Color Family and images agree.** A blue family, a blue-range code and a photo of a blue product.

Duplicate color descriptions or codes at the size level cause sync problems on Nordstrom's side and mark the items as duplicates, which ends in a rejection. When you review color errors, export your product data and check it one style group at a time.

## Rejections you will see and how to fix them

| Error | What Nordstrom says | Fix |
| --- | --- | --- |
| ERR_01 | Invalid NRF color code | The code is outside the ranges above or has the wrong format. Choose a valid three-digit code. |
| ERR_02 | Duplicate color code, or "DUPLICATE: This color code is already used within this style group" | Two colorways in one style group share a code. Give each colorway its own code, for example Medium Wash 420 and Light Wash 450. |
| ERR_03 | Missing NRF color code, or "MISSING: An NRF color code is missing" | Add a code that sits inside the selected color family's range on every item. |
| ERR_13 | "Incorrect NRF Code" | The code does not match the product's color or its color family. Recheck the family, then the shade band. |
| ERR_13 | "Color Family is either incorrect or missing" | Select the family that matches the images. Apparel and footwear cannot be "None" unless the item is genuinely clear. |

Items that stay in Changes required for 90 days without an update are inactivated, so fix color errors as soon as they land.

## Common mistakes

- **Mapping from the color name.** "Navy Stripe" is not a code. Decide from the dominant visible color.
- **One code for two similar colorways.** Light Wash and Lighter Wash need two different codes, even inside the same shade band.
- **Different codes across sizes.** A spreadsheet fill that drifts by one row gives size 8 a different code than size 6. Check every size run before you import.
- **Codes without leading zeros.** 001 becomes 1 the moment a spreadsheet treats the column as a number. Format the column as text and keep all three digits.
- **Hex, Pantone or another retailer's table.** Nordstrom wants its own NRF mapping, and it can differ from the table another marketplace gave you.
- **Overflow codes.** Outside Ivory, Burgundy and Coral, the 900s have no Nordstrom color family. Avoid them unless there is no other option.
- **Color Family set to "None" on apparel or footwear.** Nordstrom only accepts it for items that are genuinely clear.

## How Osello fills this field

Osello treats the NRF color code as a required, variant-level Nordstrom field that applies to every category. When you connect a Shopify catalog, Osello reads each variant's color, matches it against a library of standard color names and their NRF codes, and checks the product imagery when the name alone is ambiguous. One code is set per colorway and shared automatically across every size of that colorway, and Osello blocks a submission when two color variants under the same style carry the same code, so ERR_02 never reaches Nordstrom.

You can see how this field fits with the rest of Nordstrom's requirements in the [Nordstrom field directory](/marketplaces/nordstrom/fields), or check whether a Shopify product already has the data Nordstrom needs with the [Nordstrom readiness checker](/tools/nordstrom-readiness-checker).

*Sources: Nordstrom Marketplace seller documentation (Marketplace Item and Offer Setup, Item Support: Changes Required) and the NRF and Direct Color Family Chart. Rules current as of the last updated date above; Nordstrom's Seller Hub is the final word on any change.*

## Frequently asked questions

### Do all sizes of a colorway share one NRF color code?

Yes. The code describes the colorway, not the item. Every size, and every size type such as regular, petite or plus, of the same colorway carries the same code. Only a different colorway gets a different code.

### What code do I use for a multi-color print or pattern?

Use the dominant color. Pick the family a shopper would filter by to find the print, then choose a code in that family's range, and make sure the primary image shows that color clearly. Code 000 and the No Color Family option are for clear or colorless items, not for prints.

### Where does the NRF color code appear on Nordstrom.com?

It sets the color swatch on the product listing page, the grid shoppers browse before opening a product. The color name they see on the product page comes from the Color Description field.

### Does the code need to be three digits?

Yes. Nordstrom expects a zero-padded three-digit value such as 001 or 020. Spreadsheets drop leading zeros from numeric columns, so format the code column as text before you export or import.

### Can I change the code after an item is accepted?

Yes. Nordstrom auto-approves data and content updates on already accepted items, usually within 24 hours. Regrouping colorways into different style groups is a separate change that needs an Item Support Form.

### Is the NRF color code the same on every marketplace?

Not always. The NRF standard is shared, but each retailer maps and validates the codes its own way, and Nordstrom's cheat sheet can require a different code than another marketplace for the same colorway. Assign codes per marketplace rather than copying a table between them.