The ability to choose from a range of colours when purchasing clothes in SoT is something I've personally wanted to see in the game ever since it released and something I'm surprised hasn't been widely discussed (to my knowledge).
In this games current state cosmetics are the only thing players can purchase with their gold and so although I personally think the game sorely needs this, unfortunately this is not a change I see being implemented into the game as every time the developers add a new cosmetic set or item it becomes less and less likely.This is because the developers would have to go back and re-skin all the pre-existing cosmetics in the game which is something they likely don't want to be doing. That being said, here are my ideas:
Why would this be a good change?
By giving players the ability to choose the colour of their clothes the developers have an incentive to focus more on the actual design of new outfits and less on cool colours, which I think would lead to a lot more cosmetic variety. On top of that, assuming they were to use a colour palette of 10, by simply re-skinning cosmetics that are already in the game the current cosmetic variety could be increased by 10 times. Plus, I can't be the only one who finds it frustrating to try and mix-match different outfits in the game only to find the colours don't work together.
How would the inventory/shop look?
To avoid absolutely destroying a players inventory/the shop inventory with individual coloured variants of the same item I'd imagine it looking something like this:
Shop inventory: When a player selects any particular item they are prompted to choose a colour before purchasing it. They can preview the item in any selected colour.
Player inventory: If a player owns more than one coloured variant of the same item they would be grouped together in their inventory, or stacked. When previewing an owned item there could be a prompt for players to view/scroll through the differently coloured versions of that item that they own.
What about the coloured variants already in the game (e.g. ceremonial admiral, rogue sea dog)?
I say they be completely redesigned to be their own unique sets; after all there's only three of them (excluding scurvy bilge rat, though that would also need to be changed), one for each trading company, and considering you have to level up with the respective trading company to unlock these sets something cool and unique would feel much more rewarding than a re-skin. Additionally, the developers could give prior notice to this change allowing people to buy the sets before they're replaced (similarly to the ship cosmetics removed back in 2018).
What about unlockable sets (e.g. limited items from duke, pirate legend set)?
Using whatever colour palette the developers adopt assuming they were to make this change, why not give players all of the coloured variants of any particular clothing item when unlocking it? It's something they worked for after all.
What if certain colours don't work with certain sets?
Many cosmetic sets in SoT have definitive features such as the orange glowing metal on the forsaken ashes set or the golden chains on the pirate legend set. Personally, I don't think these should be changed regardless of the colour. However, with the numerous designs in SoT tweaks would have to be made when re-skinning particular outfits to make sure the colours look natural. Using the forsaken ashes set as an example, bright colours just wouldn't work with the set and so all of the options would have to be duller, darker counterparts of the existing palette.
What about ship cosmetics?
Although this thread focuses mainly on the clothing in SoT as I feel it is more in need of the change, this would absolutely work with ship cosmetics with the exception of one thing; the hull. The only defining feature of any hull in SoT is the colour as there is no difference in the actual design apart from patterns and markings. Personally, I don't see this as a huge issue as I tend to base what cosmetics I equip to my ship off of my hull anyway. So in short, yes, I do think this could be added for ship cosmetics, just not for the hull.
What about equipment and weapons?
Still completely possible, but more effort than it would be worth IMO.
