Stone Island Fabric Guide

From the brands founding year of 1982, to current day, Stone Island has captured the world of fashion with its constant technological advancement of fabric and material creation. The Italian brands undeniable need to constantly innovate has led to them uncovering a diverse range of materials that they can employ within the design of their compass patch-clad clothing, as well as mesmerising garment dyeing processes that complete each piece. Join us as we take a look at some of the brands most popular materials and garment dyeing techniques.

Stone Island's forward-thinking attitude and focus on producing stunning textiles have brought us many popular materials over the years. It has taken us a little while but we've managed to whittle them down to five of the best. Just be glad you aren't getting every material ever thrown at you, there are a million more that could've been included.

Among Stone Island's vast collection of garments, one of the most prominent fabrics is the brands Nylon Metal. A lightweight nylon blend that possesses a stunning metallic sheen, as well as wind and water resistant properties, what's not to love? The look is achieved by a complex double resin bath in which micro pigments give off an iridescent finish. You'll have seen a few Stone Island Overshirts or even some shorts in this sort of fabric.

The Italian outfit's Mussola Gommata fabric utilises the natural texture of cotton muslin and coats it with glossy polyurethane. This seemingly unusual combination delivers a material that excels in comfort, durabillity and weather resistance. Before the cotton is coated, it undergoes Stone Island's signature garment-dyeing process, ensuring a bright finish with a rich and intense dye.

One of the brand's most durable fabrics, Tela Stella boasts its extremely lightweight and abrasion-resistant properties. Stone Island offer a unique, vintage appearance to the garment through a distinctive reverse dye technique, that sees a finished garment be reversed, then re-dyed. This Stone Island Jacket displays the stunning tones achievable using this process.

David-TC is perhaps the most unique material on this list down to the structure of each polyester. The fabric is constructed using a star shaped polyester layer that's sewn together and garment dyed at the same time. The Italian brand also include an anti-drop treatment which increases the materials dirt resistance and elongates its lifespan.

Stone Islands most iconic material, the one you expected to see on this list... The Heat Reactive fabric has been utilised in an array of Stone Island's stunning and most viral pieces, from Stone Island Sweatshirts that react to handprints, to jackets that turn ice-blue in the cold. Each Thermo-reactive piece is crafted using a blend of nylon and synthetic fibres, and treated to alter the amount of light that may reflect off the material (changing the colour) in order to respond to temperature fluctuations. These garments are a rarity, and are true collectors items each and every time they drop.

An impressive list, and we're sure we could easily name a good few more upon request. Each of these materials typically make up the basis of Stone Island's seasonal collections, alongside the brands classic cotton of course, but what makes the fabrics truly stand out is the garment dyeing process. Stone Island's famous garment dyeing techniques go far beyond your standard dyeing procedure, from Resin Tinting and Hand Brushing to Laser Printing, we'll take a closer look at how the brand produces stunning colours in our next Stone Island blog.

While you wait eagerly for the next look behind the scenes at everyone's favourite Italian brand, why not have a look back at our Stone Island Badge Guide? Or browse the array of materials we have on offer here at Aphrodite, and you know *Add to cart* while you're there?