A history of Stone Island would be incomplete without mention of music. From Italy’s 1980s Paninaro movement – known for its love of pop music and an early Stone Island adopter – to 1990s Acid House ravers, Britpop’s protagonists and Grime rappers, the brand’s subcultural cachet has always been won through its ubiquity within music movements and their followers.
Now, a new project formalises this connection: titled ‘Stone Island Sound’, it sees the brand announce a series of playlists and live events with the theme ‘sound as a form of research’ (a nod to Stone Island’s approach to creating clothing, which largely begins with experiments on fabrics and the way they hold dyes). It is also a reference to a recent campaign featuring friends and longtime wearers of the brand – including Oasis’ Liam Gallagher – which ran with the tagline ‘community as a form of research’, a recognition of how devoted Stone Island fans have shaped its trajectory.
