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NEW YORK — Stone Island’s newly relocated flagship in SoHo is designed to lean into the brand’s ethos of working with experimental materials and its ties with subcultural communities globally, chief executive Robert Triefus told The Business of Fashion on a recent tour through the space, which opens on Thursday.
“The store ultimately is an expression that speaks to two sides of this brand,” he said.
The 3,175-square-foot location is built in part from materials such as burnt cork, ribbed plaster and stained pine wood to mirror the offerings of a 43-year-old Italian label that’s garnered an intense following for innovative luxury sportswear — like knit sweaters made from thermosensitive fabrics that react to body heat or reflective outerwear coated with glass beads. The label’s full range is displayed across two floors, with a DJ booth on the lower level to foster a speakeasy-esque space for community gatherings.
The SoHo space is one of a number of stores receiving facelifts under the creative direction of the architectural studio OMA/AMO. All are in key cities that Triefus dubs as “lighthouse cities” for the label.
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“These are the cities that we believe have a halo effect on their [regional] market,” said Triefus. He adds that Stone Island’s revamped New York flagship will also align with the design of upcoming stores opening in November at the South Coast Plaza mall in Costa Mesa, California and Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto. The brand will also bring a similar retail expression to a shop-within-a-store space in Saks Global’s Fifth Avenue flagship store.
Stone Island is doubling down on its strongest sales channel with its renovations. Parent company Moncler Group reported in July that the brand’s sales fell by one percent in the first half of 2025. But though wholesale revenues for Stone Island fell by 9 percent, direct-to-consumer sales rose by 8 percent during that same period.
And in America, Triefus believes the brand is currently witnessing a “tipping point” since it first opened its New York flagship a decade ago. The brand, which was founded in 1982 by Massimo Osti in Ravarino, Italy, first gained popularity in Europe after its technical apparel resonated with football fans and subcultural communities that ranged from 1980s Italian “Paninaros” to Y2K-era UK grime rappers. In the 2010s, Stone Island found similar momentum with American streetwear consumers who discovered the label through co-signs by pop stars such as Drake and hyped collaborations with brand partners such as Supreme. Today, Triefus believes the American customer — particularly American professional athletes — are now discovering the brand’s decades-long European heritage.
“During this particular moment in America, people are now beginning to have a very mature understanding of that original vision of Stone Island,” said Triefus. “The founder’s vision of materiality, innovation, practicality, and functionality.”
