Stone Island AW25: Coming Soon

You’re reading that right. Osti’s most beloved brainchild, Stone Island, is coming back to our rails. Though it’s making a full return for AW25, we’ve also got some key pieces from the brand coming a little sooner, so it’s worth keeping those eyes peeled. If you’re not an aficionado already, here’s the beginner’s guide to all things Stone Island, so strap in and get informed ahead of the drop.

For the story of Stone Island, we’re taking it all the way back to 1982, the year Blade Runner and E.T. were released and Prince William was born. But over on the continent something far more important was being conceived of. In the Italian province of Ravarino, Massimo Osti created ‘Tela Stella’. Inspired by military truck tarpaulins, he coated a cotton canvas material in resin, dyed it on either side, and washed it using pumice stones to soften it for wear. People, after all, are not military trucks. He named this ‘star fabric’, and then was faced with the daunting question of how he should use it.

He’d already created C.P. Company in 1971, so made seven jackets intended for the goggle-based brand. The only problem was, they just didn’t fit into the collection. So from these seven jackets, Stone Island was born. The name came from Joseph Conrad’s novella ‘Heart of Darkness’, from which Osti combined two of the most commonly used words in the book and also pinched the story’s maritime themes to infuse the ethos of the brand. Paired with a distinctive passion for innovation and utility fabrications, Stone Island set sail. 

Like most things in fashion, the success of Stone Island is in-part owed to teenagers. More specifically, the teenagers who were part of the Paninaro subculture of 1980s Italy. Named after the ‘panino’ (sandwich), this group followed their love for fast food and designer labels into a long-lasting affair with Stone Island. Mainly based in Milan, these teenagers were often supporters of AC Milan, and donned bold colours, relaxed-fitting jackets, and were hooked on the logo-mania approach to clothing. Their adoption of Stone Island was therefore only natural, and the brand quickly became a favourite of the most stylish kids in 80s Italy. Despite being just a flash in the pan, Paninaro culture has left a huge impact on European fashion and culture that persists to this day.

Stone Island came to these grey shores of ours thanks to Paninaro culture’s parallels with UK football culture, both were big on re-using sportswear for leisure, and both found a sense of community in shared interests. Conveniently, this spirit of recycling fabrics and apparel intended for other uses was also in line with the intention behind Stone Island's designs. This bled into sportwear styles, with the bonus of Stone Island being that the gear is actually hard-wearing to keep fans warm and dry on rainy match days. The enthusiasm for Stone Island inevitably spread from sports fans to the wider population, making the brand a mainstay across wardrobes in the UK. Seen on celebrities from Liam Gallagher to Dua Lipa, the iconic arm badge has become a cultural touchstone. If you’re feeling left out reading this, fear not- we’ll be able to sort you out with your own Stone Island piece soon.

While Massimo Osti left Stone Island in 1994, his innovative spirit that forged its creation still lives on, with the brand’s design facilities still residing in Ravarino. ‘The Lab’, as it’s been dubbed, develops new fabrics, garment-construction techniques, and fabrications that keep the apparel-advancement of the company forging forwards. They’ve developed over 60,000 recipe dyes and pioneered many breakthroughs in the last 40+ years, and we can’t wait to see what the next 40+ years will look like for Stone Island. For now though, we're just buzzing for the AW25 drop.

As an independent retailer, it is a privilege to be able to welcome back such a coveted brand as Stone Island to our roster. The boundary-pushing ethos that drives Stone Island is cut from the same cloth as the fierce independent spirit that keeps our lights on, so working with them again just makes sense. Here’s to the badge.

P.S: Here’s the low-down on what all the Stone Island fabrication lingo means to keep you in the know…

• Garment Dyeing: - when a garment is dyed after the sewing process has been completed, results in a unique colourway per item, and a softer feel.
• Tela Stella: - Name means ‘star fabric’. A tarpaulin inspired by those used on military trucks, and made from a cotton canvas material. It was then coated in resin and dyed on either side, then washed using pumice stones to soften the fabric. This resulted in a windproof garment, which was similar to old oilskins which were weathered and corroded by the sea. This fabric predates and inspired the creation of Stone Island.
• Nylon Metal: - Debuted in 2005, built from a nylon yarn made up of three parts (tribolate); with grey weft and white warp colours perfect for garment dyeing. The fabric is then double-dyed at high temperatures which gives it the iridescent finish and light-altering colour changing appearance. Followed on as a progression from the Formula Steel garments of the ‘90s.
•  Thermosensitive: - Debuted in 1988, the ‘Ice Jacket’ made from thermosensitive material is one of the most iconic Stone Island pieces. This material changes colour depending on its temperature. Constructed using nylon coated in a thermosensitive liquid, using heat-sensitive molecules to allow greater/lesser amounts of light through depending on the temperature, allowing for a change in colour. 
•  Micro Reps: - Crafted to a military specification, and often coated with an anti-drop agent to create a dirt and water repellent surface. The weft yarns are thinner in diameter to its warp, making for a tightly woven material that is compact and wind resistant.
•  Tank Shield: - Made from an opaque polyester tela, that is then laminated with overlapping panels made from a performance membrane, to create a full shield for the outer fabric and seams- allowing for both breathability and protection from the weather.
•  David-TC: - Begins with a star-shaped polyester layer that is sewn then garment-dyed at specifically 130°C, it’s given an anti-drop treatment during the dyeing process which results in a dirt and water resistant, super hardwearing fabric. Stone Island David Light-TC jackets are made of the same material, just lighter. 
•  Raso Gommato: - Debuted in 1983, with the intention of creating a waterproof yet non-rigid garment. Osti used long-fibre Egyptian cotton coated in polyurethane to achieve this. 
•  Reflective: - In 1992, Stone Island started work on reflective fabrics. They studied safety workwear which led to the idea of coating materials with resins containing thousands of glass microspheres, making for a reflective surface. This has been done on many different textiles, with continued research on different uses for different garments.