Stone Island clothing made in Italy

Stone Island is an iconic and historic Italian high fashion brand, which since its birth has adopted a recognisable and functional style as well as an artistic orientation aimed at research and innovation of materials. Unsurprisingly, it is currently in the Olympus of the international stylistic sector, benefiting from the increasingly marked trend of the market towards streetwear and sportswear, of which they were a precursor and tenacious promoter. Indeed, it could be provocatively argued that it was not this brand that has adapted to the market, but the market that has adapted to Stone Island.

A brief history of the brand

Stone Island was born in 1982 from an idea of the designer Massimo Osti who took his cue, for his first creations, from the fabric of the red and blue double-sided tarpaulins mounted on the trucks. These tarps are made of a rigid material which, once in the laboratory, is washed with a special cleaning technique that uses pumice stone, called "stonewashed". The resulting canvas, called "Tela Stella", has a pleasant lived-in appearance and, in these early times, was used for the production of outerwear in various colours.

The brand then became a cult and was used as an identity marker by numerous youth groups and subcultures: from the Milanese "paninari" to the English hooligans from football stadiums.The brand has in itself references ranging from literature to seafaring and military traditions: the name takes its cue from the works of James Conrad and the two recurring words in its pages ("stone" and "island" in fact); the logo, on the other hand, is a stylised wind rose drawn on a patch sewn with two buttons, almost as if it were a removable badge.

Stone Island: the iconic models and the style of the brand

Stone Island has redefined the common sense linked to Sportswear, thanks to the total experimentation on fibres and dyes created in the company's laboratory. And it is precisely from the research in the Stone Island Lab that the most iconic Garments of the brand have come to light, such as:

• the Ice Jackets, hooded jackets made of heat-sensitive fabric: the molecules of the pigments present in the fibre change colour as the temperature changes and transform, for example, white into blue, pink into grey and yellow into dark green;
• the Reflective Jackets, created with waterproof and windproof fabric that also contain glass microspheres that react and reflect any form of light;
• the Metal Shell Jackets, on the other hand, are made with metal fibres incorporated into the outer lining of the garment.

However, the brand's collections are not limited to sportswear. The Winter Clothing Lines are iconic: Sweaters, Jackets, Hats and Trousers.
The recent collections have continued to follow the common thread of the research begun since its foundation, also focusing on the obsessive attention to detail, both of the external and internal linings with its stitching and padding. The brand's latest project is called Shadow and uses discreet and elegant fabrics, selected above all based on functionality and the conservation of the wearer's body heat. With this, the historical approach oriented to the performance of the garments and informality is traced. Also worthy of attention is the beachwear line with t-shirts, shorts and swimwear with a dynamic and strong design, modern lines that blend with the adventurous style of the brand.

The type of public to which Stone Island is aimed has gone from being "niche" to becoming mainstream and transversal: the consumer range goes from the young cool, attentive to the hype of the moment, to the middle-aged man of the middle and upper class. In short, buying a Stone Island Garment means owning a must-have, a personal product with a very specific clothing philosophy and credibility, especially in the streetwear field, built up over years of experimentation and artistic coherence.