Stone Island

Italian men's apparel brand

Stone Island is an Italian luxury fashion house specialized in men's apparel, outerwear, and accessories headquartered in Ravarino, Emilia Romagna, Italy. 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 popularized 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. It is a global staple of youth subculture as characterized by Italian Paninaro, English football casual, British, American, and Canadian hip hop culture, as well as world wide streetwear.

Designer Massimo Osti founded Stone Island in 1982, in Ravarino, Italy. He founded the brand to compliment his flagship label, C. P. Company, which he started in 1971. 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 to Italian businessman Carlo Rivetti in 1993 who combined the label with C. P. Company Sportswear Company SpA. Stone Island rapidly popularized during the 1990s in Europe and Japan, and during the 2010s, in the U. S. and Canada. In 2017, Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings bought out a 30% stake in Stone Island valued at €345 million. Three years later, Italian fashion house Moncler bought a majority stake in Stone Island for a reported €1.15 billion.

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. 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". Stone Island focuses on technical apparel research, development, and manufacturing. 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, badges from around the year 2000 onwards became black edged.

Stone Island became influential in youth subculture for "wealthy middle class teens" in Italy during the late 1980s for their unconventional fabrics and silhouettes. The brand is often associated with hooliganism and can be seen in many football hooliganism based films, such as Green Street and The Football Factory. Its presence in the U. S. and Canada starting in the early 2000s was bolstered by streetwear and hip hop culture. Its largest consumer base was noted by Esquire as being "Milanese youth, English football fanatics, [athletes], and [celebrities]". British 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".