New Diesel Concept Rolls Out In Major Markets
Denim giant Diesel grows younger, hipper apparel concept in the U.S.
Susan H. Fishman

55DSL’s location on Lafayette Street in New York City.

Created in 1994 as an experimental spin-off from legendary denim label Diesel, 55DSL is a younger, underground niche apparel line that targets the 18-to-30-year-old customer.  Once a collection inside the Diesel stores, today’s 55DSL is a multinational business with a long-term U.S. growth strategy of three to five stores per year.

Andrea Rosso, son of Diesel creator Renzo Rosso (born in 1955), took the 55DSL sport and street mentality, combined it with his own knowledge and expertise in textiles and fashion, and built an entirely new company out of it. The unrestrictive, wearable line was originally inspired by one of Andrea’s loves, radical sports — snow, surf and skate — but as the brand evolved, it began to incorporate a combination of sport and urban culture.

Thanks to its heritage, today’s 55DSL garments are designed to resist the toughest elements, while remaining aesthetically stunning. There are some active, technical aspects to the line that Diesel might not have, in fabrics as well as fit. Here, you’re more likely to find things like big, baggy cargos and edgy logos.

“It’s really authentic,” says Robert McCaffery, vice president of sales for Diesel USA. “For example, if you’re really going to snowboard, you’ll have functional products with the way the zippers are and the water-repellent fabrics — things like that make it slightly different from Diesel.”

A clean, minimalist internal design gives maximum focus to the products and implies the use of natural materials in the 55DSL store.

The collections drip with irony and an aggressive attitude, and can be interpreted in many ways. The sports element includes technical, nylon jackets, such as parkas, ski jackets and college-style bombers which complement the punky, chic look of the bowling jackets. T-shirts have hasty, stencilled graphics — black and fluorescent on pure white bases — and dot-matrix camouflage that resembles blown-up newspaper print. The urban sports feel is accentuated by innovative details, such as an i-Pod pocket with an internal “route” for cables inside the jacket.

The company chose New York City for its flagship store, which opened in March 2007 at 281 Lafayette Street. Taking up one floor and roughly 1,600 square feet, the store is a modern and warm environment and has been designed accordingly to the typical features of the building housing the store. A clean, minimalist internal design gives maximum focus to the products and implies the use of natural materials. Wooden antique oak floors and touches here and there are anthracite in color, where clothes are hung and where little niches host the new collections of 55DSL sunglasses.

Taking up one floor and roughly 1,600 square feet, the New York 55DSL store is a modern and warm environment that has been designed to the features of the building housing the store.

Glass is the other natural element, inspired by the Crystal Palace exhibition at Paris Universal, creating invisible delimited spaces. In the centre of the store there are glass boxes for the accessories, and glass is also used for the counter, featuring a cut-out shield logo shape that hosts accessories and is also inserted in the oak wood.

The same retail concept has been used to refresh the London and Tokyo stores, both of which will re-open during 2007. Moving forward in the U.S., the store size will really depend on city and location, according to McCaffery.

“There are some cities that are perfect for this brand like Seattle and maybe Portland,” he notes, “because we do well with our wholesale distribution in those areas. But those stores would probably be closer to between 800 and 1,000 square feet.”

The first U.S. store, in New York City, opened in March 2007.

Plans for the U.S. call for moderate growth with three new stores on the books in “one-off, unique areas.” The next targets are Los Angeles, Hawaii and Miami, which are slated for a late 2008 opening.

“We are close to scouting L.A.,” McCaffery notes. “The new, hip area there keeps moving, so if you’re talking about a brand that’s not following the trends — is sort of off the trends — the puzzle keeps moving on where you go.”

The 3-year growth strategy involves layering on three to five stores a year, adds McCaffery. “From a global perspective, it’s a stronger brand in Europe, the U.K. and Japan. So we have the potential here to really grow it.”