History of the Stone Island brand
The history of the Stone Island brand began long before its actual appearance. One day, an Italian came up with a brilliant idea: to combine the advantages of a military uniform with the advantages of working men's clothing. The name of that Italian is Massimo Osti, and his main dream is to create clothes that will be worn for decades, look beautiful, sit comfortably, and most importantly, be affordable for ordinary people.
So, at the suggestion of a resourceful designer, in 1975, in Navarino in northern Italy, a new, previously unparalleled trademark CP Company was created. As everything ingenious is simple, so the idea of Massimo Osti was simpler than simple. The clothes created by him, unlike the products of other fashion designers, were suitable for everyday wear. At the same time, the emphasis was placed on the fact that clothes practically do not wear out and serve their owners for many years, and unique expensive materials made it a luxury brand.
The resourceful Osti began to use the most unusual materials for the production of clothes, ranging from fabrics that change color with temperature changes, ending with non-woven materials and metallic threads. In a short time, Massimo Osti made a revolution in the world of fashion, creating a unique, unknown to anyone before, idea of fashionable clothes, based primarily on practicality.
It was then that the Italian fashion designer initiated a trend, the main feature of which was an experimental approach and a scientific look at clothes. The comfortable line almost immediately won the hearts of Italians.
In the late 70s, Massimo Osti decided to introduce into the brand the theme of one of his interests - military uniforms. First, in 1981, Boneville appeared, and a year later, Stone Island Marina. After some time, the brand name lost the last word and remained, familiar to everyone, Stone Island. A signature feature was the patch on the left sleeve, which was a piece of dense fabric with a stylized image of the company's sign, "wind rose", and it was fastened to the sleeve with buttons on both sides. The very first jacket, which did not yet belong to the brand, but so far only to the Stone Island line, was called Tella Stella. Massimo put all his passion for the theme of the sea into it. It was a two-tone canvas jacket.
The uniqueness and peculiarity of the Stone Island brand lies in the materials used for sewing things. The brand is distinguished from others by the desire for everything new, for experiments, the use of unusual materials. First of all, this was facilitated by our own laboratories, in which the company's specialists work on innovative materials.
By the end of the 80s, the company released a line of jackets with sewn-in lenses on the wrist. We did this in order to make it more convenient to watch the time on a wristwatch without rolling up the sleeve of the jacket for this. After that, many more unusual models were developed with various features, for example, light reflection, water resistance and other "chips".
Thanks to the use of special materials, which were based on a scientific approach, the brand quickly gained its place in the field and quickly gained popularity not only in Italy, but throughout Europe. The company began producing three clothing lines at once - the classic Stone Island, the Stone Island Shadow designer line and the children's clothing line called Stone Island Junior.
Gradually, Stone Island became popular with football fans and hooligans, and today it is one of the most respected fan brands. Why did the brand become popular with them? First, the clothing was reminiscent of the style of sailors: jackets longer than usual, with hoods of coarse fabrics and dark colors. This is exactly what a football fan is looking for: conservatism and raw simplicity, which for many implies the honor and dignity of the owner. Secondly, the materials used in the creation of brand items, primarily reminiscent of military and nautical themes, played a big role. This caused associations with the image of a warrior, strength and courage.
From the very beginning, the Stone Island brand in Russia was perceived with interest, primarily due to the fact that Russian football fans have already watched the sensational English and Italian films, where the main characters were full of Stone Island patches.
The fate of the brand in England was also interesting. At first it was received with disbelief. The very first things of the brand were brought and started selling by the Jones of London shopping center. The British had a misunderstanding: why did the clothes look the most ordinary, but the prices for them were so high? Sweaters were able to cost over a hundred feet, which is quite expensive for the British mentality. But over time, the British became convinced that, unlike other expensive brands, Stone was “not to be killed” and was worn for decades, keeping in good shape.
Among the British fans to this day there are disputes about which of the fans began to wear the clothes of the brand first. The few who wore the CP Company before it was fashionable are certainly more respected and uplift the football club they support.
By the end of the 80s, Stone Island began to lose its leadership in its segment of the fashion world. But Massimo Osti found a way out in style - for the first time Stone Island presented one of its most important technologies - the Ice Jacket. The Ice Jackets had camouflage colors, but their main feature was not at all, but in the use of materials that react to temperature. The main task that the new jackets solved was to withstand any gusts of wind, while maintaining the initial body temperature of their owner in any weather. This was achieved with the help of a heat-resistant fabric, which was created with the addition of liquid crystals. They also carried out a change in the color of the material due to changes in air temperature.
In general, the brand has become a real godsend for football fans and has earned the main place in the casual wardrobe. His things did not deteriorate even during the fierce opposition of the fans, only chevrons became a problem. During fan confrontations, the clothes remained intact and completely unspoiled, but the chevrons were often torn off by the opponent. But in Russia, torn patches have become not just a damaged part of the jacket, but a kind of trophy and subsequently a separate product.
By the way, they also have their own little history. Initially, the "compass" had a completely different color scheme and was fastened on the first models to the case or the left sleeve at the wrist. And only a few years later he rose higher, to where today he can most often be seen - on his left forearm. Now, in addition to the patches of the usual colors, you can find just white on limited models and completely black, representing the SI Shadow line. And the chevron on models released for the brand's anniversary in 2012 received a new addition - a wreath.
The place of Osti Massimo was taken by Carlo Rivetti and Paul Harvey, his followers continued to fully realize the idea of the brand. One of their first products was the Radiale. The idea was to modernize the military pea coat, in the new model they sought to increase frost resistance, while not making the design of the jacket bulky. It was possible to achieve the goal by laminating the fabric using rubber. Interestingly, this experiment was started by Osti himself, and completed by his successors. They also released in 2000 the legendary jacket called Kevlar. Para-aramid fiber was used to create it, and it, by the way, is five times stronger than steel, but does not make the jacket heavy. Plus, things shimmered in the sun, thanks to the surface covered with polyurethane.
Today, there are many respected brands in the fan subculture that can compete with the Stone Island brand, which has held a one-man position for so long. But practicality, innovative technologies and a high-profile story continue to attract well-deserved attention and win new hearts not only from fans, but also from people who simply value comfort and reliability in clothes.