Stone Island at Foot District Madrid

As consumers, we’re constantly met with challenges of duality. Now, that might seem like some age-old opener to an over bloated speech. But, bear with me.

Choosing a piece of clothing, particularly for the fashion-savvy, can be as time consuming as choosing between shoes can be for a sneakerhead. There are plenty of reasons for this, but one of them stands out as being more fundamental. There’s a binary that we often find ourselves trying hard to reconcile. In fact, there are multiple. Price versus quality, warmer or cooler colour palettes, slim fits rather than hang loose, our troubles come in pairs. For fashion brand Stone Island, however, duality is home.

The fashion house was originally founded, essentially by accident, by Massimo Osti. The Italian designer had already been working on his CP Company brand while starting to experiment with garment development techniques. It was in this time, during the 1980’s, that Osti would stumble across one of the many technical innovations that would change the industry: Tela Stella. Finding artistic and scientific inspiration from the tarps used to cover trucks, Osti went on to spearhead the birth of Stone Island by debuting this material in the form of seven jackets. It was resistant without being uncomfortable, formed without being restrictive, and showed a ‘worn in’ quality while boasting imaginative two-tone hues.

And there is the binary that Stone Island revels within. The materials that were brought on by the imaginative founder existed as standalone emblems of stylish enginuity. Somehow, the original Tela Stella garments were rigid and rough enough to require stone washing while still maintaining wearability. On a more on-the-surface level, even the color scheme existed as dual reactions to the dying process – which, by the way, is another Osti innovation.

The brand’s more present philosophy also exists in two planes. Stone Island divided their fashion ideals into elements of LAB and LIFE. The former is all about what made the fashion house such a trendsetter in the first place: technical inspiration. The spirit of experimentation, encouraged and emphasized by Osti, is alive and well within Stone Island. The LAB element of the brand involves a never-ending process of playing with different textiles, fabrics, and fibres to see what happens. The different possible reactions these garments can have to a host of stimuli drive the brand’s creative spirit.

In slight contrast, the LIFE end of things focuses more so on the consumer. With every piece of clothing that any outfitter releases, there is an aesthetic or ideal we assign to it. When you see an Italian suit, you might very well picture yourself walking down a runway or on your way to an important meeting with a prestigious client. A sweatshirt might conjure up thoughts and imagery that represent exactly the opposite of that. With Stone Island, there is a clear and sharp focus on the identity of their clothing. Years of studying and experimenting with uniforms and work clothes have formatted the ready-to-wear standout pieces you see today. They may originate from sophisticated production, but Stone Island is about quality for the consumer.

Substantive style, living LIFE in LAB creations, maybe the duality isn’t what Stone Island excels in, but the beautiful balancing act it takes to call that binary home. Discover our complete Stone Island selection at our new store in Madrid.