Naval (SW 6244) vs Dress Blues (SW 9176)

Living room with walls painted Sherwin-Williams Naval SW 6244 (simulated) — Naval SW 6244#2F3D4C, LRV 4

Living room with walls painted Sherwin-Williams Dress Blues SW 9176 (simulated) — Dress Blues SW 9176#2B4360, LRV 5

Illustrative room. Screen colors vary; test a sample before you paint.

Quick decision

Lighter: Dress Blues, LRV 5 vs 4.
Warmer: Naval (Lab b* -11.0 vs -20.0). Naval reads blue-gray; Dress Blues reads blue.
North rooms: Dress Blues keeps more brightness (L* 23.8 vs 21.2 in north light); both drift gray about equally.
Trim that works: Sky High SW 6504, #DCE7E8, LRV 78: the Sherwin-Williams white closest in hue to both.
Closeness: deltaE 5.7, clearly different. At 5.7, treat them as different colors.

See each color

NavalSherwin-Williams, SW 6244LRV 4, #2F3D4C

More comparisons with Naval

Dress BluesSherwin-Williams, SW 9176LRV 5, #2B4360

Naval (SW 6244) is about as light as Dress Blues (SW 9176) and much warmer: LRV 4 vs 5, deltaE 5.7 (clearly different).

Side by side

Measure	Naval	Dress Blues	Gap
Brand	Sherwin-Williams	Sherwin-Williams
Color code	SW 6244	SW 9176
Hex	#2F3D4C	#2B4360
RGB	47, 61, 76	43, 67, 96
HSL	211°, 24%, 24%	213°, 38%, 27%
LRV (light reflectance value)	4	5	−1
Lab L*	25.2	27.8	−2.6
Lab a*	-1.4	0.1	−1.5
Lab b*	-11.0	-20.0	+9.0
Undertone	Cool Blue	Cool Blue
Temperature	cool	cool
Color family	Blue	Blue

Same paint, two kinds of light

Naval (SW 6244), published as #2F3D4C

North light (cool, indirect)
#1C354A

South light (warm, direct)
#40454C

Dress Blues (SW 9176), published as #2B4360

North light (cool, indirect)
#0F3B5E

South light (warm, direct)
#404B60

These swatches and the rooms above are a simulation, not a measurement. How the visualizer works

Which should you pick

Rules of thumb computed from the LRV and Lab values in the table above; no room test was done.

Pick Dress Blues (SW 9176) for a small room or a north-facing room, because it is 1 LRV points lighter (5 vs 4), so it bounces back more of the limited light
Pick Dress Blues (SW 9176) for a south-facing room, because its Lab b* is -20.0 against -11.0, so it is the cooler of the two and offsets warm direct sun
Pick Naval (SW 6244) to warm a north-facing room, because it is the warmer of the two (Lab b* -11.0), which counters cool indirect light

Closest matches to Naval in other brands

Closest matches to Dress Blues in other brands

Common questions

Is Naval the same color as Dress Blues?: They are clearly different: a CIEDE2000 difference of 5.7. Naval and Dress Blues are different colors.
Which is lighter, Naval or Dress Blues?: Dress Blues, with an LRV of 5 against 4.

Full pages

Related comparisons

By Paint Pairs. Color data from manufacturer specifications, via PaintDB. The most-viewed colors are checked against each manufacturer's own color page.

Published 2026-10-01. Updated 2026-10-01.

Sources: LRV and hex as published by the manufacturer, via PaintDB (CC BY 4.0). Color differences are CIEDE2000 values computed by this site from the hex values (data snapshot 2026-10-01). Color names and codes belong to their manufacturers.