For over a decade Stone Island clothing has been a “must have” piece of clothing for every lad who likes a drink with his mates and a scuffle on the terraces. The Stone Island masterminds positioned their brand so intelligently it gained a true cult following. Stone Island clothing, especially the well designed and tailored Stone Island Jacket, was meticulously marketed and intelligently distributed so the brand maintained its reputation for elitist “lad-fashion”. The question posited in this brief articles is: are those days over?

Over the past few years there’s been an almost inconceivable growth in online retailing, some legitimate but a significant percentage illegitimate. The growth in online retailing has not only precipitated the growth in counterfeit merchandise and questionable parallel imports it’s also compromised a brands ability to control its distribution, so where once a brand could limit distribution to maintain its kudos and reputation today it’s almost impossible so the longevity of a brands kudos is shortened with obvious detrimental consequence. Stone Island has been a major victim of online retailers selling either counterfeits or parallel imports and the web is awash with seemingly endless supplies of Stone Island Clothing, Jackets, Sweaters, Cardigans, Jeans, Shirts and accessories. Perhaps the Stone Island Era was coming to a natural end anyway but one things for sure the exponential growth of online retailing certainly precipitated the end of the Era. Other brands should also take heed of this development because perhaps the growth of online retailing equals the end of genuine brand control?