Stone Island

Wearing the one I bought for years

I studied in Dundee and some of the soccer fans there wore warm-looking jackets with a NATO patch - the logo of Stone Island.. The coats cost £600 but Shop 70 in London had them cheaper. I’ve been wearing the one I bought for years. Friends still ask after it (it changes color according to the weather). Paintings inspired by these clothes are regularly auctioned on ebay. A friend from Japan recently got chatting to a cabdriver as they passed where Shop 70 used to be - he couldn’t stop talking about how much he liked his SI gear and was impressed she knew about it. The original designer has since moved but Stone Island is still worth a look. It’s remarkable that a brand pretty much known only to soccer fans was amongst the most influential of the 1990s, and is still so expensive, and such good value.

James, United Kingdom - 13 December 2004