MILAN — Stone Island is kicking off 2025 with a new sprawling showroom in Milan, where it will unveil its fall 2025 collection on Saturday, and a new flagship in Paris designed by Rem Koolhaas and the OMA/AMO studio.
In a preview of the showroom on Via Tortona 31 — a key design area in the city — located within the complex of reconverted industrial buildings Opificio 31, chief executive officer Robert Triefus said chairman Carlo Rivetti selected this particular neighborhood “that has been his home for a long time. It was a garage and repair shop and when he came in, he saw the spirit of Stone Island, in a way.”
The project, carried out by the Benedetto Camerana Studio, has redeveloped, transformed, and reconfigured two mechanical workshops, reinterpreting existing geometries, while integrating gardens and architectural elements.
“It’s a very clever formula where you can basically dismantle it in a couple of hours and reconfigure it, so it’s a very flexible space, and will allow us, during the year, to do many different things,” said Triefus of the modular system. “So, we’re very happy, both from an aesthetical standpoint, but also from this notion of flexibility that will allow us to engage with the public.”
It spans over almost 19,000 square feet across three levels and allows the company to also present Stone Island’s sub-collections Ghost, Stellina and Marina.
The new Stone Island showroom.
Delfino Sisto Legnani
A second building adjacent to the main showroom is dedicated to the Stone Island Junior collection as well as press office activities.
“This, apart from being a physically important place, marks an important moment for us. A year ago, it was the beginning of a new chapter,” said Triefus, who joined Stone Island in June 2023. “We began to invest more in externally facing activities and we became more visible. At the time, we launched our new storytelling, the new campaign, which we’ve continued. It’s going very well, because basically what happens is, each season we introduce 12 new members of our community. We’re just beginning now to introduce spring/summer, so with David Sims, we’ve shot 36 members of our community, and we’re going to London in February to shoot the next 12, so it’s really very organic. It’s kind of a layered storytelling. And now we actually get people in our community who would like to participate, because it’s become quite an iconic project.”
The showroom is helping Stone Island to make a statement, as is the opening of the Paris store during Paris Men’s Fashion Week on Jan. 23.
The first store working with Koolhaas was opened in Chicago in fall 2022 as a pilot, but this is the first featuring the new concept in a fashion capital and “it has evolved a lot since then,” pointed out Triefus. Spanning over two floors, the flagship is a relocation on Rue Saint-Honoré. “We’re moving up the street to a more central location, opposite Balenciaga, next to Saint Laurent and Goyard just up the road.”
Since joining the brand, Triefus said that he has seen “a real doubling down on what Stone Island is best known for — materials, innovation, research and commitment to a collection that serves a real purpose for people in their real lives. This was a brand that, during the streetwear boom, of course, benefited from a particular part of the offer, sweatshirts, T-shirts, hoodies, which is actually a very minimal part of the entire offer that we have. With the kind of demise of that streetwear boom, what we’re seeing now is real traction in outerwear and knitwear in particular.”
Triefus recalled how founder Massimo Osti introduced the use of military truck tarpaulins in his first iconic collection back in 1982, turning this into a material employed on innovative jackets, and how that research has been a constant inspiration.
“His ultimate objective was to create functional clothes so when we talk about performance, it’s not so much technical. Our collections are performance because they are very functional. Ed Sheeran, he wears our cargo pants every day because he finds them very functional for what he does. The Stone Island enthusiasts love that aspect of the innovation in the materials, but also the pure functionality of it all.”
The company has been going through a major change in its distribution strategy, which impacted revenues that declined 6 percent to 292.4 million euros in the nine months ended Sept. 30. Predominantly a wholesale business until Moncler Group’s acquisition at the end of 2020, the balance has been shifted and while the direct-to-consumer channel grew 26 percent in the nine months, accounting for 46 percent of sales, wholesale decreased 22 percent.
“We’ve been quite intentional about right-sizing wholesale, in other words, finding the right strategic partners who understand the brand, who can really work with us to present the brand in the right way, and help achieve a greater presence in their environment,” Triefus explained.
Stone Island is planning a branded concept in Selfridges, which can ultimately become a concession, as is the store in Harrods opened last August. Today, the brand has about 92 stores around the world and Triefus is working on optimizing the network and looking at opportunities to introduce the new concept, either in an existing space or in a relocation.
“Our objective is not to dramatically increase that number, but to make sure that our footprint is showing up in the best possible way. When I say optimizing, I mean both introducing the new concept, but also improving the performance of the stores. As we introduce and evolve our collections, our objective is both to maintain the core community, but to progressively introduce Stone Island to new customers as well.”
The “intentional decisions” made on the business, including cutting its wholesale distribution, will “allow us to be absolutely ready and perfectly positioned when the climate begins to change and consumer confidence comes back,” said Triefus. Also, he touted the performance of Stone Island’s new website, which it has taken over.
“As we intentionally find the right size for wholesale, we have to prove to the industry and analysts that our retail stores can progressively compensate for that, and in the end, become even more dynamic, so that the brand then begins to grow in the way that we would expect it to,” said Triefus, underscoring the retail growth in the nine months. “If we can arrive in 2025 with that equilibrium being demonstrated to the industry, then I think people can have confidence that this brand is ready for its next stage of growth.”
Sales in Asia climbed 18 percent, representing 23.3 percent of the total, while revenues in the Americas fell 25 percent accounting for 7 percent of the total, which Triefus attributed “without a doubt” to the wholesale channel, which has been challenged in general in America, he said. He added that he hoped the acquisition of the Neiman Marcus Group by Saks Global and that Nordstrom Inc. going private will contribute to improve that environment.
Ethan Ruan fronting Stone Island’s spring 2025 campaign.
Asked about the potential impact of U.S. tariffs, Triefus said: “We’ve seen [President-elect Donald] Trump in the past. You know the expression that a dog’s bark is worse than his bite. I think that he uses, as it were, the megaphone to create a little bit of a negotiating stance. My sense is that his focus is more on other sectors, technology, automotive, those kind of sectors, rather than fashion and luxury.”
Stone Island took back in December 2023 its distribution in China, establishing a regional office in Shanghai. “We feel that both China and America are relatively new markets with opportunity for the future,” said Triefus. “They are markets where the brand still has a low visibility, so it will take us a little bit of time to grow the visibility and therefore the engagement.”
Cue the introduction of Taiwanese actor and model Ethan Ruan last month fronting the brand’s spring 2025 ad campaign.
