diff --git a/lib/config/figgy-config.js b/lib/config/figgy-config.js
index ae998272c3cb8..9f99db329be4b 100644
--- a/lib/config/figgy-config.js
+++ b/lib/config/figgy-config.js
@@ -27,6 +27,9 @@ function mkConfig (...providers) {
     baseConfig = NpmConfig(npm.config, {
       // Add some non-npm-config opts by hand.
       cache: path.join(npm.config.get('cache'), '_cacache'),
+      // NOTE: npm has some magic logic around color distinct from the config
+      // value, so we have to override it here
+      color: !!npm.color,
       dirPacker: pack.packGitDep,
       hashAlgorithm: 'sha1',
       includeDeprecated: false,