What turns a garment into a collector’s piece? In his short film Passport, director Glenn Kitson meets people who do more than wear Stone Island: they research it, archive it and pass its stories on.
Since Massimo Osti founded Stone Island in 1982, experiments with materials, dyeing and function have shaped the Italian label. That curiosity has grown into something beyond the collections themselves. Across different cities, collectors have built archives, tracked down rare pieces and pieced together the histories behind them.
Seven Cities, Many Perspectives
For Passport, Kitson speaks with members of this international community. In London, they include archivists Arco Maher and HOLSALES, as well as vintage store 194 Local. The film also encounters SimJae in Seoul, Metallic Curtain in Paris, Better Gift Shop in Toronto, PEZZE in Naples and vintage curator ‘bout in Tokyo.
Each has found a different path into Stone Island. What connects them is an attention to design and function, and a desire to keep the stories behind the garments alive. Shot on older digital cameras, Kitson’s footage has the feel of something discovered in an archive itself.
Photography: Glenn Kitson and Jago Stock
