"Between 70 percent to 90 percent of subconscious judgment on a product is made in a few seconds on color alone. It can excite or calm us; it can raise our blood pressure. It's really powerful." -- Jenny Ross, the head of concept design and strategy for lifestyle footwear at New Balance

Mark C. O'Flaherty, in a New York Times article entitled "The Secret Psychology of Sneaker Colors," explains how Nike, Adidas, and New Balance are not randomly choosing glaring shades for thier sneakers.

'Aqua blue, acid lime, and grape purple. Electric orange interspersed with neon pink. Gray suede and cheetah print mixed with white and gold. These are not descriptions of a minimalist's worst nightmare, but rather new color combinations… are jarring by design.

"In the age of the infinite scroll and the era of sneaker culture, where the competition to make the hottest, rarest, most wanted kick is more intense than ever, the shoe that clashes shades with the most force stops traffic — at least of the online kind. As a result, athletic shoe companies are increasingly becoming fluent aficionados of that old art: color theory."

A favorite color of one of my girlfriends from back in the day was cobalt blue. Not blue, but cobalt blue.

My favorite NFL team, the Detroit Lions, wears "Honolulu blue" jerseys, and my grad business school, the University of North Carolina, wears "Carolina blue."

A simple blue does not work.