To have a future, streetwear must look to the past

If the Y2K aesthetic has seen a strong revival in recent years, the streetwear phenomenon, which experienced its peak and global expansion about a decade ago, has undergone a sharp slowdown. From America to Italy, the streetwear scene grew exponentially starting in 2015, establishing itself more and more and increasing its desirability until it reached its peak between 2019-2020. The rise of streetwear brought numerous brands to fame, from American labels like Heron Preston and A-COLD-WALL to the renowned Yeezy, all the way to the Italian scene with brands such as Pyrex, Palm Angels, Vision of Super, Off-White™, and County of Milan. In 2017, in a conversation with Heron Preston reported by Vogue US, Virgil Abloh responded to the question «What’s cool?» by stating that «The unique position that Heron and I are in is that we create for seventeen-year-olds. We’re on the bench of Mercer Street, not in the lobby of the Mercer Hotel — we’re out there, signing sneakers, chatting, and taking pictures. The next generation’s idea of luxury might just be coolness.» Streetwear, before being a style or a way of dressing, was a mindset, a way of living. The generation Abloh referred to has grown up, the coolness of ten years ago has shifted, and the era of streetwear has become post-streetwear. But what happened to the brands that represented the manifesto of such a globalized stylistic phenomenon, now that the market and desirability have faded? Despite having its own niche, the streetwear phenomenon has deflated following the disappearance of hype culture. But even in the early stages of its downward trajectory, these contradictions had already emerged through a controversy between Virgil Abloh and an Italian brand called Barrow, which highlighted the intellectual short-circuit sparked by the contradictory coexistence of streetwear’s accessibility and fashion’s exclusivity.

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In 2021, Virgil Abloh took a jab at Barrow on Instagram, referencing an article from WWD about the “death of streetwear” to express his discontent. The Italian brand, supported by Manifatture Daddato, had reached a turnover of 5 million euros in eight months, with the ambition of hitting 40 million by the end of the year. However, the real reason for the attack was not just Barrow's success but rather the reopening of the Legit Fake debate, particularly relevant in Barletta, where brands like Pyrex Original had emerged. In 2012, before founding Off-White, Abloh launched Pyrex Vision, a brand based on rebranding Ralph Lauren garments, customized with graphics inspired by Caravaggio and the number 23. The project became a cult phenomenon but lasted only a year: unable to trademark the name Pyrex, Abloh abandoned it to focus on Off-White. Shortly after, Pyrex Original appeared in Italy, a brand that leveraged the notoriety of Abloh’s project and spread rapidly without violating any copyright. Similar phenomena had already occurred with Supreme Italia, created by IBF International. Although Abloh had never mentioned or taken legal action against Pyrex Original, his 2021 Instagram story showed that, deep down, the issue remained unresolved. His frustration was understandable but also contradictory: Abloh himself had built his career on reinterpretation and hype, techniques that Barrow had also adopted legitimately. His attack seemed more like a personal reaction than a genuine ethical stance, suggesting an increasingly elitist vision of streetwear, detached from its own origins based on contamination and innovation.

Over the past ten years, fashion has undergone a monumental transformation with the fusion of luxury and streetwear. Luxury, traditionally synonymous with exclusivity and craftsmanship, opened its doors to the democratic energy of streetwear, a phenomenon born within the subcultures of major American cities, often among young people and communities excluded from mainstream fashion discourse, and it grew through dynamics of community and authenticity. This union generated a new economy of desirability, where the value of a garment was no longer based solely on its craftsmanship or history but on its ability to generate anticipation, rarity, and status. In this scenario, an alternative market emerged, capable of overturning traditional consumption dynamics.

Controlled scarcity, limited-edition collaborations, and fragmented distribution strategies turned every item into a currency, whose price was no longer determined by the brand but by the obsessive demand of the public. Success was no longer measured by direct sales but by the fever of reselling, where sneakers and garments became speculative assets, experiencing skyrocketing value on the secondary market. This new approach to fashion was best exemplified by the New Guards Group: the group's first seed was planted in 2012 by Marcelo Burlon, then the king of Milan's nightlife, who launched a merch collection that quickly became the uniform of Milanese club kids. Four years later, Marcelo Burlon - County of Milan had a turnover of 35 million euros and, together with Claudio Antonioli and Davide De Giglio, had founded a new conglomerate, the New Guards Group, under which the most disruptive streetwear brands of the moment developed: Off-White, Palm Angels, Unravel Project, and Heron Preston. Later, Opening Ceremony and Ambush also joined. In 2019, the group was acquired by Farfetch, but this was only the beginning of a period of decline that eventually culminated, as we will see, in the collapse of the e-commerce giant and the disarray of the original lineup of brands and designers.

Virgil Abloh and Kanye's Protégés

Heron Preston, Kanye West with Yeezy, A-COLD-WALL, and 1017 Alyx 9SM are some of the key players in the streetwear scene, all born in the shadow of the fundamental partnership between Virgil Abloh and Kanye West. All these brands have followed a similar trajectory: massive success, a downward spiral, and eventual disintegration. The most dramatic case is Yeezy: launched in 2015, the line achieved incredible success, with Yeezy sneakers becoming the symbol of a new type of streetwear, consistently selling out and reaching exorbitant prices. The Yeezy phenomenon led adidas to earn over £1.2 billion in 2021, but the story of Yeezy quickly turned into a downward spiral. Kanye West’s numerous controversial statements, culminating in the sale of a t-shirt featuring a swastika on his website, severely damaged the brand’s image. The end of the collaboration with adidas resulted in huge financial losses for the brand, with millions of dollars in unsold products. The Yeezy affair thus represents not only the rise of a brand tied to streetwear iconography but also the rapid downfall of a controversial figure like Kanye West, whose impact on the fashion market crumbled due to his actions. Yesterday, adidas announced that it had sold its last Yeezy—marking the end of an era. The stories of the other designers have been more fluctuating but less controversial.

Heron Preston, for example, one of the most prominent designers in the scene, launched his eponymous brand with the help of Virgil Abloh, who introduced him to the founders of New Guards Group. In 2019, the brand reached a turnover of €24 million, with great success due to the UNIFORM collection, which reinterpreted New York City sanitation workers’ uniforms. This project also attracted the attention of NASA, which commissioned Preston to create spacesuits for its 60th anniversary. Despite the strong initial success, in recent years, the brand has lost some visibility, as Heron Preston stepped away from the runways to join H&M’s creative team, launching seasonal capsule collections. A-COLD-WALL, founded in 2015 by Samuel Ross, is another example of a brand that helped redefine streetwear with a more conceptual approach tied to the working class and social issues. The brand gained visibility through a collaboration with Nike and debuted on the London Fashion Week Men’s runway in 2017. However, in 2023, Ross decided to step away from the brand, selling most of his shares to Tomorrow Ltd. With Ross out of the picture, his longtime collaborators, William Slocombe and Liam Hassimi, took the reins. Meanwhile, Ross has focused his energy on SR_A, a multidisciplinary project spanning from watch design to bespoke clothing, which has now launched a continuous collaboration with Zara, following his artistic and social goal of creating clothing that is both high-concept and accessible, outside the rigid and, in some ways, unhealthy and unsustainable traditional fashion system.

Finally, 1017 Alyx 9SM, the brand created in 2015 by Matthew Williams, saw its success grow in parallel with that of Yeezy and A-COLD-WALL. Launched with the support of Luca Benini, Alyx became a highly successful brand, culminating in Williams’ creative direction at Givenchy. However, its rise slowed down after his departure from the luxury house, with the focus now shifting back to 1017 Alyx 9SM. Giving new life to the brand is the intervention of Adrian Cheng, a Hong Kong entrepreneur who has acquired a significant stake in the brand and plans to relaunch it with a new headquarters in Paris, a return to the Fashion Week calendar, and a greater emphasis on womenswear collections. His ambitions for Alyx are to establish it as a luxury brand while also appealing to a younger and more democratic audience—an interesting challenge for the brand’s future. However, since Cheng’s involvement was announced, Alyx has shown no further signs of life nor has it returned to the runway. To these stories, we should add the more successful ones of Jerry Lorenzo and Mowalola, who have followed the path of elevation with a certain degree of success.

But it would be profoundly wrong and reductive to say that their fame was born and died with the streetwear wave: beyond all being fully active, they have paved the way for even younger generations of creatives who, instead of gaining recognition through Kanye West’s media platform, are reaching prominent positions through more traditional and industry-driven paths. In this sense, their cultural revolution has been set in motion and assimilated by mainstream culture—but why at the cost of the global relevance of the individual designers? Perhaps the truth is that this group was powerful as a system, but with the loss of the central core’s centrifugal force, each of them has followed their own trajectory. Now they have all found their own success, and we hope they find even more in the future, but that promise of completely reshaping the system, of bringing a breath of fresh air to a century-old mechanism, does not seem to be materializing.

The Italian Streetwear Scene

When thinking about Italian streetwear from ten years ago, it is impossible not to mention Marcelo Burlon - County of Milan as its "father”. The brand, founded in 2012 by Marcelo Burlon alongside partners Davide De Giglio and Claudio Antonioli, revolutionized the Italian scene in just three years. Starting from Milan’s nightlife, the Argentine designer showcased his T-shirts in the city’s most renowned clubs. His designs—mainly T-shirts, hoodies, and ponchos—stood out for bold prints around the neckline: snakes, bird wings, wolves, and other wild animals, combined with contemporary graphic motifs inspired by Patagonian cultural symbols. These elements quickly took over Italian cities, becoming an icon of Milan’s new streetwear uniform. Marcelo Burlon’s T-shirts became a must-have for teenagers and young adults, driving the brand to incredible success. In just three years, the brand reached a revenue of 20 million euros in 2015, expanding its offering to three full lines for men, women, and children. That same year, another brand emerged in the wake of streetwear culture: GCDS, whose story, along with its behind-the-scenes details, will soon be told by nss magazine.

Burlon played a fundamental role in uniquely connecting nightlife with youth communities, art, and fashion. This is why his success rapidly expanded worldwide, not only financially but also culturally. In a world of luxurious garments that often felt disconnected from reality, Burlon’s clothing proved that building a meaningful connection to the present was possible. In 2015, the fashion world witnessed Burlon's brand entering Milan Fashion Week and the creation of the New Guards Group holding, which held the license for Off-White™. The group’s sale to Farfetch for 675 million euros in 2019 was seen as the start of a new chapter for its brands, but the optimistic predictions of its golden era did not materialize, partly due to the devastating impact of the lockdown on the market. Marcelo Burlon remained the creative director of his eponymous brand until April 2024, when he decided to focus on philanthropy and his foundation. Meanwhile, according to unofficial reports, Modaeffe, a company from Barletta known for owning the controversial brands Pyrex and Disclaimer, has acquired the license for County of Milan. Meanwhile, the issues faced by Farfetch have been partially addressed by the Korean e-commerce giant Coupang, which, together with Greenoaks Capital, attempted to revive the struggling company with a 500-million-dollar investment—though the crisis was so severe that it even impacted Coupang’s own revenues in 2024.

Similar to the Italian-American brands of New Guards Group that emerged in Abloh’s wake, the story of Palm Angels follows a parallel path. The brand was introduced in 2015 by Francesco Ragazzi as an exploration of skate culture. Palm Angels quickly established itself as a key player in the streetwear market, also gaining traction through its iconic collaborations, such as the one with Moncler. After joining New Guards Group, the brand was recently acquired by the U.S.-based Bluestar Alliance, which also owns Off-White™ and Scotch & Soda. By 2023, Palm Angels had surpassed 100 million euros in revenue, with 80% of its sales coming from menswear, the brand’s flagship segment. Initially popular for its tracksuits and T-shirts, the brand has managed to carve out a global presence, with flagship stores in New York, Paris, Milan, Miami, and Las Vegas, as well as in Asia, where it is expanding further to capture a new market segment. In addition to the recent acquisition, this past February, Francesco Ragazzi stepped down as creative director, opening a new chapter for the brand. Ragazzi, meanwhile, has shifted his focus to fragrance, launching the (highly acclaimed) Réservation line, crafted by specialists Yann Vasnier and Frédérique Obin. The brand was founded in partnership with Archive, the investment vehicle of the Ruffini family, the dynasty behind Moncler. Managed by Pietro Ruffini, son of the renowned Remo Ruffini, Archive has also invested in brands such as The Attico and Pas Normal Studios, as well as in the restaurant industry with Langosteria Holding and Concettina ai Tre Santi.

There is also one of the most OG realities of the Italian and Milanese scene - VNGRD. In 2002, King Kong opened in Milan, a store on Via Vigevano, which quickly became a reference point for the city's underground scene. Founded by Ivano Atzori and Federico Sarica, King Kong was able to create an international network of artists, musicians, and designers. It was here that Giorgio Di Salvo started working on graphics for flyers and t-shirts, becoming a sort of art director for the store. It was in this context that he met Marcelo Burlon, who proved to be a key figure in connecting the underground world with fashion, and with whom Di Salvo would later create much of the aesthetic of County of Milan. In 2005, after years of experimentation and collaborations, Giorgio Di Salvo and Paolo Borgato founded VNGRD, a brand that marked a turning point for Italian streetwear. With a naïve and self-taught approach, VNGRD challenged market rules and quickly gained cult status. Thanks to its innovative aesthetic and a desire not to follow conventions, the brand attracted collaborations with international brands like Stüssy, FUCT, Slam Jam, and SUPER. In 2006, within VNGRD, the tentacle motif was created, designed by Giorgio Di Salvo. This graphic would become iconic and, years later, give birth to the independent brand Octopus. Meanwhile, VNGRD continued its rise and received recognition from international figures like Kanye West. The brand also became involved with the Italian hip-hop scene, supporting and collaborating with artists like Esa, Bean, Noyz Narcos, and Gué Pequeno. After a few years of activity and growing success, VNGRD slowed down to a sort of "hibernation," while the creative energy of its founders shifted towards new projects. In 2012, the tentacle motif transformed into Octopus, which became an independent brand with the goal of spreading its aesthetic everywhere. Despite the closure of VNGRD, its impact on Italian streetwear culture remains indelible, leaving a legacy that continues to influence fashion and the creative scene today.

There is also Vision of Super, founded by Dario Pozzi in 2018, which experienced rapid growth, supported by the trap scene, with Sfera Ebbasta being among the first to wear the famous “Flames T-shirt”. The brand is part of the Vos group, created by Pozzi, which surpassed 6 million euros in revenue in 2021 and aimed for over 15 million in 2023. Over time, it acquired brands like Yes I Am and No Pasa Nada, expanding its focus on beachwear, while it had already included Phobia Archive since 2019. Today, it has around 1,000 global retail locations, with a solid presence in the Middle East, Russia, and the UK, supported by a digital community that played a crucial role in its initial success. In January 2025, at the St. Regis Hotel in Florence, the group presented its new expansion plans, confirming the goal of strengthening its presence in international department stores and entering markets like China, India, and South Africa. During the event, Vos announced a diversification of the business with licenses for perfumes, sneakers, and eyewear, as well as the entry of two new strategic partners, Antonella Di Pietro and Alessandro Santamaria, who were brought in to support international expansion. Despite the group's solid foundation, the brand could benefit from a soft relaunch to maintain its relevance in the current streetwear landscape.

Other examples of local streetwear brands born in the Milanese context are Propaganda, founded in 2006 by Noyz Narcos and Andrea Corona. Their project evolved from a record label to a network of creatives, a booking agency, and a streetwear brand. Originally from Rome, Propaganda also has an underground story: the turning point came with the opening of the first store in Milan, which initially sold only the rapper’s merchandising. In a short time, Propaganda's visibility grew, with the snake logo becoming an increasingly recognizable icon among young people. In recent years, however, the hype around the brand has decreased, as well as media attention, although Propaganda remains a huge reference point for all fans of Italian rap. A particular phenomenon has been Iuter, a true OG of the Italian streetwear scene born in 2002 as a logo for a snowboard crew and later becoming one of the most important historic streetwear brands in Italy. Founded by Alberto Leoni and Andrea Torella, its growth has been organic, driven by its roots in hip-hop and action sports. Over the years, it has expanded its offerings and collaborated with artists and brands. The latest collaboration was three years ago, celebrating the brand's 20th anniversary with a collaboration with Fabri Fibra.

In 2022, Quavo performed on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon wearing a motorcycle jacket from the brand, at a time when many streetwear brands that had dominated the scene in previous years were changing direction, abandoning the more rebellious and authentic roots of streetwear to embrace a more “high” and formal fashion. While brands like Supreme and Stussy had evolved into massive commercial giants, Iuter, along with other Italian brands like Octopus Brand, Dolly Noire, and Vision of Super, had remained faithful to a streetwear still linked to the street and youth culture and, above all, to its customer target, continuing to stay true to its origins by offering collections that strongly referenced urban culture, without compromising on its authenticity. Among the brand's most interesting initiatives, there has recently been a unique event in the fashion landscape: last June, the brand opened a pop-up in the form of a market stall at the famous Papiniano Market in Milan – a place where many young people go to buy used clothes or look for deals. The pop-up project is interesting because no other high-end brand would have dared to land in a neighborhood market, and because it reflects the brand’s connection with its community on the ground – a crucial factor in a market where more and more brands end up going into "crash and burn," trying to elevate themselves while leaving behind their main target audience.

Another brand recently acquired by Bluestar Alliance is the legendary Off-White™, founded in Milan in 2013 as Virgil Abloh’s second project, after Pyrex Vision. The brand became the quintessential symbol of streetwear and the arrival of streetwear in the luxury world: Virgil Abloh’s project represented the power of streetwear during those years, conquering high-end buyers and building a community that spanned from millennials to teenagers, as well as a group of celebrities who supported and wore Off-White™. The strength of the brand was based not only on the thought behind it but also on the collaborations between Off-White™ and other brands, from Nike to Timberland, from Moncler to Jimmy Choo and Converse. In 2017, a now historic line with Nike was launched, The Ten, created by deconstructing sneakers that became immediately sought after and quickly sold out, sold outside institutional channels at crazy prices. The success of the partnership led Off-White™ to become the most desired brand according to Lyst in 2019, surpassing Balenciaga and Gucci, which dominated the fashion industry at that time.

In no time, Off-White™ landed at Paris Fashion Week, gaining an increasingly elevated status not only in the streetwear scene but in fashion as a whole. After the death of the artistic director and founder in 2021, and under the control of LVMH, which had acquired a majority stake in the brand, Off-White™ witnessed a slow decline starting in 2022, reaching a total revenue of 319 million euros compared to 440 million in 2021. Creative direction was then entrusted to Ib Kamara, but the standstill situation and the changes in the market and buyer needs – especially the difficulty of continuing Virgil Abloh’s legacy without its founder – proved to be difficult obstacles to overcome, in conjunction with the decline in demand for streetwear and the slowdown of the global luxury goods market. Since then, the brand has tried to revive itself by recently debuting at New York Fashion Week, entering into a partnership with the NBA women's basketball team New York Liberty, and more recently with AC Milan for a new team kit. In 2024, the French luxury group LVMH sold Off-White™ to Bluestar Alliance. The decision by LVMH to sell Off-White marks the end of an era – but also highlighted the huge void left behind by Virgil, perhaps the first figure in fashion to cultivate a vision of opening up fashion that was able to satisfy both the old powers and new audiences. We still have not found another like him. Although the financial details of the transaction were not disclosed, the timing of the sale is particularly significant, as it occurred on the day Virgil Abloh would have turned another year older. This date was seen by many as deliberate, to send a message of distrust in streetwear. The decision also comes at a time of complexity regarding the brand’s ownership and its future, including a "shared ownership" situation with New Guards Group, which held the brand's license until 2026, the year when the brand could have fully entered the LVMH portfolio.

The Bet of Bluestar Alliance

Today, Bluestar Alliance has an unprecedented opportunity. The brands it owns, Off-White and Palm Angels, are not just business assets or high-end clothing producers, but true cultural entities that, at least from a belonging perspective, no longer belong to that all-Italian, or rather all-Milanese, phenomenon that was the New Guards Group. The main characteristic that made the New Guards Group a winning force in its early days was a reversal of the notion of brand perception. Normally, a brand places itself above its audience, who, driven by their own aspirations, must elevate themselves to it. However, the brands of Marcelo Burlon and Virgil Abloh were born with the deep insight that a brand would succeed by starting from the bottom, from the audience itself, and, in short, from its community. Of course, by following the path of all these brands, one can clearly see how, at some point, the fever for elevation took hold of them too, pushing them to want to enter the perhaps narrow and dusty world of fashion weeks – but when they did, both already had a community of real customers and fans that was the concrete materialization of their brand equity. The effort to become like everyone else and focusing on the fashion facade then led to their gradual disappearance – how can you compete with fashion giants, their distribution, production, and communication systems? But today, Bluestar Alliance has the opportunity to start from scratch – that is, to rebuild the community of those brands.

One of the founders of New Guards Group, Claudio Antonioli, has understood this mechanism, trying to apply it to Ann Demeulemeester, a brand that, after its acquisition, was entrusted to the young Stefano Gallici, and whose pricing was revised to make it accessible to a new and younger customer base. A very smart move to break free from the increasingly crowded and suffocating world of traditional luxury, where the sudden rise in price points has led to a contraction in sales. But how to reactivate brands like Palm Angels and especially Off-White? While the first may need restructuring and a slight rebranding, the legendary Off-White, now in the hands of Ib Kamara, appears to be in an identity crisis. What the new management should do to rebuild its community is to give up its positioning in luxury, abandon the enormous costs of participating in Paris Fashion Week, and make the brand authentically accessible to a market of young people who still desire it – following, in some ways, the path laid out, perhaps in a more immediate way, by Corteiz, which in recent years has been the most remarkable streetwear phenomenon, starting and thriving thanks to its own community.

At a time when traditional fashion, with its large and small brands, is in a moment of crisis and confusion, both financial and identity-related, the wisest move is exactly to exit an arena where, no matter what game is played, it’s a zero-sum game. Hardly any brands have communities – they possess, at best, huge customer databases, which are only a simulation of a community. In growing precipitously and chasing dreams of infinite growth, many of the brands we’ve mentioned have indeed forgotten where they came from, from the youth and from the street – the strength of their extraordinary rise lay in a "grass-root" movement that started from the bottom, following the logic of trickle-up that Virgil had elaborated years ago. The same type of strategy has, after all, been followed by Italian brands like Iuter and Vision of Super, positioned perfectly beneath that storm cloud layer that is wreaking havoc on traditional fashion. But who will have the courage to try to slightly shrink in order to ensure their survival? Evolution, in nature as in business, does not reward the strongest, but the most adaptable. And time will tell which strategy marks the true path to success.