Stone Island, Beyond Materials

Stone Island's FW26 campaign features musicians Skepta and fakemink and actor Stephen Graham, along with architect Samir Bantal, film director Jia Zhang-Ke, and gallerist Monika Sprüth. The people in the campaign span different fields, including music, film, architecture, and art, and the questions put to them were designed by curator Hans Ulrich Obrist.

This is an extension of the "Community as a Form of Research" platform, launched in 2024. Rather than simply introducing products, it conveys the value of material research and experimentation through people from a range of fields. FW26 shows how Stone Island goes beyond applying material technology to its products, connecting it to the brand's cultural identity.

Design That Begins with Materials

Stone Island's designs have evolved around material experimentation. In 1982, Massimo Osti developed TELA STELLA, inspired by military canvas, and presented seven jackets made with it. He went on to continue experiments that drew on the properties of materials, including the rubber-coated fabric Raso Gommato, the temperature-reactive Ice Jacket, and the Reflective Jacket made with reflective material.

This approach doesn't end with improving function. The texture, color, and surface changes of materials become design elements that shape a product's appearance and wearing experience. The use of materials and finishing techniques as names that distinguish products, such as LIQUID REFLECTIVE and GARMENT DYED DYNEEMA®, follows the same logic. The technology accumulated through material research functions both as a product's defining feature and as the language through which the brand is recognized.

FW26: Extending Material Experiments into Products

In the FW26 campaign, Skepta wore the 4100002 Hand Sprayed Reflective Light Bull Denim-TC jacket, and Stephen Graham wore the 4100006 Laser Pigment Indigo Denim coach jacket. Both pieces are from the Denim Research line, applying different finishing techniques such as high-reflective film laminating, hand-sprayed pigment, and laser patterns.

This season, Denim Research expanded with four washes and new surface treatment techniques. What sets it apart is how it connects experiments that alter the properties of materials to the appearance and individual character of each product, and brings that to the fore in the campaign as well.

Beyond the Collection: Selfridges The Collector Series

"Selected Works '982–'026_Stone Island: The Collector Series," running at Selfridges Corner Shop from September 21 to November 6, is the brand's first official collaboration with independent collectors. It presents, collector by collector, pieces that showcase past material experiments, including the LIQUID REFLECTIVE field jacket and the GARMENT DYED DYNEEMA® jacket from the 2012 season.

The key is reframing the brand's archive through the perspective of independent collectors and presenting it in a retail space. Connecting the craftsmanship of the products with the context of collecting, it extends the history of material research into today's brand experience.

EDITORIAL SMALL TALK

Stone Island's material research, which began with military canvas in 1982, is expanding beyond product development into campaigns and collector culture. In the way it turns the technical characteristics of materials into product differentiators, and connects the history those products have built up back to the brand experience, Stone Island's next experiment is worth watching.