When Did Stone Island Start Putting the "Sport" In Sportswear?
The lights dimmed and onlookers in London’s Wembley Stadium rose as heavyweight champ Oleksandr Usyk stepped out in a custom Stone Island parka, its massive form almost covering his matching grey boots. Nearly 100,000 onlookers roared as the Ukrainian boxer overtly “got the badge in.”
Usyk’s five-round dismantling of British boxer Daniel Dubois on July 19 yielded two big takeaways. He’s undeniably the world’s best pound-for-pound boxer, for one, and the age of Stone Island as actual sportswear is only just beginning.
Stone Island was once solely known for inventing and infusing innovative materials into plainly stylish clothes, a throughline found across all of the many brands founded by Massimo Osti. Increasingly, however, Stone Island’s taking those core Osti tenets to real performancewear.
In the months before Usyk reclaimed the crown of undisputed heavyweight champion, Stone Island was quietly entering a handful of other previously unfamiliar sports, some aligned with its inherently sporty ethos and some less so.
Stone Island Marina’s New Balance Numeric sneaker, released in June, marked the brand's first foray into skateboarding. Only a month prior, Stoney and NB created a custom football kit and boots for the Santan FC football team founded by British musician Dave.
In the midst of all this, 10-time NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony modeled Stone Island’s new upcycled clothing capsule, following in the footsteps of fellow basketballer Steph Curry, American footballer Garrett Wilson, and former Japanese midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata.
That’s Stone Island jumping into basketball, football, skateboarding, and boxing in a single summer.
Even for a brand that's always had a core following amongst football fans, it's unusual for Stoney to so frequently cross the line from the stands to the field.
That’s not to say Stone Island’s never had ties with "actual" sport.
Sailing has always been a core Stone Island motif, for instance, and its famous compass logo is inspired by the compass rose used in nautical navigation.
Wind the clock back far enough and you’ll also find now-sought-after La Sportiva x Stone Island climbing sneakers from 2004.
But that kind of one-off sports project used to be a rarity. Stone Island has shifted them into a priority, spurred on by a longstanding New Balance partnership and with a widening list of athletes as brand ambassadors.
Six years ago, Stone Island’s Nike Golf capsule caused a stir at The Open. Four years ago, it turned elite New Balance running shoes into statement shoes for the everyday. Two years ago, Stone Island made its first football boots, worn by Raheem Sterling during an England match. Last year, Stone Island debuted a proper basketball collection.
This year is Stoney’s sportiest chapter by far, an acceleration of accumulated interests. The lines are blurring. The Italian fashion house no longer exists only in parallel with the world of sport.
Stone Island always represented luxury sportswear. Now, it's straight-up sportswear.
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