Welcome to the 99th insertion of DEMUR®, an analytical series highlighting the intricacies of the artistic world and the minutiae lying within. In this episode we pull out our Bunsen burners and ready our beakers to explore Stone Island’s thermosensitive technologies.
Stone Island is rarely accredited for such innovative practice in the field of textile development. Since inception in 1982, the highly experimental namesake has refined their craft in Italy’s backyard, developing over 60,000 dyes through countless capsule collections and one-off items.
Each year, Stone Island focuses on researching some of the world’s leading textiles, such as the electromagnetic parka or infamous thermo reactive wool knits. To demonstrate their process, Stone Island has created a ‘Prototype Series’, in which you’ll find unfinished designs in the wake of their final stages.
Many are discarded, but some garments do make it to production. In regard to the label’s Spring 2017 collection, a demonstration captured the newly improved temperature sensitive ‘Ice Knit Sweaters’, which retailed at $1913 USD. In the photo, @nico__white_ is seen wearing the sweater, while a hand is placed on his chest to illustrate the technology.
Unbeknownst to many, Stone Island has been evolving this practice since 1988, creating a yellow ‘Ice Suit’ jacket which turns green when exposed to extremely low temperatures. The outwear was originally constructed of a nylon shell and coated in liquid crystals, but in 2010 the team began using a polyurethane film and special pigment. Bonded to a polyester mesh base, the film distorts light passing through to create the desired, heat reflective effect
As mentioned, in their Spring 2017 collection Stone Island revamped its thermosensitive materials once again. Approaching the process with a different philosophy, they first manufactured an interior pure wool base and then layered a reactive material on the exterior. Coming in yellow, emerald and ivory, their colder parallels shifted to an orange, deep green and anthracite. Stone Island has also implemented this tech into leather and other jackets as well.
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