The Italian brand is linking with streetwear wunderkind Samuel Ross for the fourth iteration of its Red Tag project.
An exclusive preview of A-Cold-Wall’s Diesel Red Tag collection | Source: Courtesy
MILAN, Italy — Diesel is linking with streetwear label A-Cold-Wall for the fourth iteration of the Diesel Red Tag project. The collaboration will result in a denim capsule collection, including apparel and accessories, which will drop in November.
Since its inception last March, the Diesel Red Tag platform has teamed Diesel with Hood by Air’s Shayne Oliver, Y/Project’s Glenn Martens and the designer Gosha Rubchinskiy in a bid to inject new life into the denim brand, whose jeans dominated pop culture in the 1990s and early 2000s.
“Diesel needs fresh energy,” said Renzo Rosso, the brand’s founder and president of parent company OTB Group, which also owns Maison Margiela, Marni, Viktor & Rolf and Paula Cademartori. “These collaborations are not for making money. They’re for making the brand cool.”
Stefano Martinetto, chief executive of Tomorrow London, has helped Diesel curate collaborators for its Red Tag project and was key to connecting the brand with A-Cold-Wall, which was founded by Virgil Abloh protégé Samuel Ross in 2015. Rosso holds a stake in Tomorrow London, which, in turn, owns a stake in A-Cold-Wall.
“Samuel has never done denim before, and the idea of him doing it with one of the most iconic and technically advanced brands in the world felt right,” said Martinetto. The collection will be sold at select Diesel stores, online and via retail partners including Selfridges and Dover Street Market.
OTB’s consolidated revenues amounted to €1.4 billion last year, down 3.2 percent at constant exchange rates, impacted by the weak performance of Diesel in Europe and North America. Diesel filed for Chapter 11 protection in the United States in March.
Earlier this week, OTB announced its minority stake in Amiri, a Los Angeles-based luxury brand with a Californian, rock 'n' roll aesthetic.