Dark olive

Where it sits

Dark Autumn palette

Dark olive is an anchor color in Dark Autumn. The nearest color on the same side of the warm–cool line is Soft chocolate #5A4636, a Soft Autumn color, at a distance of 13: close enough to mistake for it on a hanger, far enough to tell apart on a person.

At RGB 75, 74, 42 the red and green are tied and the blue is well below both. The tie is what makes it olive rather than green or brown. The low blue is the warmth. Raise the blue and it becomes a cool forest green, which belongs to a Winter; raise all three and it becomes a soft olive, which belongs to a Soft Autumn.

A Dark Autumn wears it as tailoring, outerwear and the base under the palette's warm colors: with terracotta, with mustard, with burnt orange, with mahogany. Dark olive trousers with a terracotta knit is a complete outfit. It pairs with camel and dark chocolate as relatives and with cream for the lightest version. It is the best color in the palette for a coat.

Retailers call it olive, dark olive, army, military, khaki, moss, loden or fatigue, and the usable ones are the dark ones. Hold the garment against black. Dark olive reads as a warm, slightly yellow dark. A forest green reads blue beside it and belongs to a Winter. A light khaki reads as a different color entirely.

Easily confused with

Soft Autumn's soft chocolate is thirteen points away and browner; True Autumn's dark chocolate is fifteen points off. Dark Autumn's own warm charcoal is nineteen points off and greyer, and Soft Autumn's soft olive is twenty points lighter. The confusion on a rail is with cool forest greens, which are not in any Autumn palette: on a Dark Autumn they read blue and make the skin look sallow.

The nearest named colors in other seasons, by perceptual distance (ΔE in CIELAB; under 10 is hard to tell apart on a screen, over 25 is a different color).

In stock in this color today

As of November 11, 2026, 20 in-stock pieces across Boden, STAUD and Marine Layer sample within a close match of #4B4A2A. The dot on each card is the color we sampled from the garment itself; trust it over the photograph. Links are affiliate links: we earn a commission when you buy through them, at no cost to you.

Broderie Cotton Top

Forest Glade

$149 at Boden

Riley Barn Jacket

Dark Olive

$268 at Marine Layer

Ribbed Long Sleeve Henley

Falcon Green

$89 at Boden

Cashmere Cropped Hampton Sweater

Olive

$495 at STAUD

Crew Neck Henley Tank

Olive Night

$69 at Boden

Callie Dress

Woodland

$595 at STAUD

Rosalie Skirt

Diana

$245 at STAUD

Sierra Utility Pant

Dark Olive

$110 at Marine Layer

The Piper Barrel

Dusty Olive

$88 at Marine Layer

Maeve Cord Midi Shirt Dress

Forest Glade

$230 at Boden

Elsie Cashmere V Neck Sweater

Hunter Green

$170 at Boden

Liz Henley Sweater

Forest Glade

$140 at Boden

See everything in Dark Autumn

What it's sold as

Retailers almost never use the palette name. These are the color names on the in-stock pieces that sample within a close match of #4B4A2A today, so they are the words to search for.

Boden

Forest Glade, Falcon Green, Olive Night, Hunter Green, Peacock Paradise, Woodland Green

STAUD

Olive, Woodland, Diana, Spruce, Prowl

Marine Layer

Dark Olive, Dusty Olive

A retailer's name for a color says nothing about its undertone. "Navy" at one shop is a True Winter color and at another a Spring one. The sampled dot on each card above is what we trust.

Questions

The Dark Autumn guide · All in-stock Dark Autumn pieces · ← Mahogany · Terracotta → · All colors