Stone Island is an Italian luxuryfashion house specialised in men's apparel, outerwear, and accessories headquartered in Ravarino, Emilia-Romagna. Its core branding includes a nautical star and compass, both of which is printed or overlaid atop a button-on cloth badge with green, yellow, and black detailing.
Founded in 1982 by Massimo Osti, the brand became popular during the 1980s and 1990s in Europe and Japan, and during the 2010s, in the U.S. and Canada. Stone Island uses trademark reflective fabric, dyeing compounds, and surface treatments to produce garments. It was acquired by Italian fashion house Moncler in 2020 for €1.15 billion.[2][3]
It is a global staple of youth subculture as characterized by Italian Paninaro, English football casuals, British, American, and Canadian hip hop culture, as well as world-wide streetwear.[4][5]
History
Designer Massimo Osti founded Stone Island in 1982, in Ravarino, Italy. He founded the brand to complement his flagship label, C.P. Company, which he started in 1971.[6] Osti sold 50% of Stone Island to GFT (Gruppo Finanziario Tessile) in 1983, before selling the remaining half to GFT in 1991. He left the company in 1994 and was succeeded by Paul Harvey as head designer from 1996 to 2008. GFT sold Stone Island in 1993 to Italian businessman Carlo Rivetti, who combined the label with C.P. Company Sportswear Company SpA.[7] Stone Island rapidly became popular during the 1990s in Europe and Japan, and during the 2010s, in the U.S. and Canada.[8]
In 2017, Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings bought out a 30% stake in Stone Island valued at €345 million.[9][10] Three years later, Italian fashion house Moncler bought a majority stake in Stone Island for a reported €1.15 billion.[11][2] Throughout the 2010s and 2020s, Stone Island has collaborated with several design companies such as Supreme, Dior, Nike, Adidas, and New Balance, among others.[12]
Brand identity
Stone Island's yellow-green Compass Badge, 2013
The name Stone Island is derived from Polish-British pre-modernist writer Joseph Conrad's novels wherein the words "stone" and "island" appear most frequently.[13][14] According to founder Massimo Osti, his novels' exploration of "boats and sea" moved him to create a brand with "[a] new sensibility oriented to science instead of fashion".[12] The brand emphasizes anti-fashion, prioritizing function over form.[12] The logo references a compass, affixed with a nautical star. It is recognizable by the use of a cloth badge that features the compass design on the left side of a garment.[15]
Stone Island focuses on technical apparel research, development, and manufacturing.[16] It is known for its approach to fabrication through a range of dyeing techniques and surface treatments. These include the use of Raso Gommato in 1983, thermosensitive fabric in 1987, rubber wool in 1987, and reflective fabric in 1991. Originally, the patches were green edged, but from around the year 2000 onwards they became black edged.
Subculture
Stone Island was initially popular with "wealthy middle-class teens" in Italy, but by the mid-1980s, the brand had gained popularity among the football casual subculture in the United Kingdom.[12][17] As a result, the brand became associated with football hooliganism, and some venues and pubs banned customers who wore the brand.[18] The brand's association with football hooliganism was reinforced by Stone Island itself who incorporated the material Kevlar into jackets as Kevlar is bulletproof and offered protection against knives during violent clashes. The brand was brought into the mainstream by several films released in the early 2000s, including The Football Factory and Green Street, which featured prominent characters wearing the brand.[19]
Its presence in Canada and the U.S. starting in the early 2000s was bolstered by streetwear and hip hop culture.[8] Its largest consumer base was noted by Esquire as being "Milanese youth, English football fanatics, athletes, and celebrities".[5] Magazine i-D described Stone Island as a high-end status symbol among youth who show off the compass logo in a practice known as "getting the badge in".[4]
