DIESEL COMPANY PROFILE
• International brand – headquarters in Italy • Male & female casualwear, sportswear, kids clothing, jewellery, eyewear, footwear, fragrances, leather goods • Haute Couture of casual • Denim jeans - greatest brand exposure
• Pioneered new styles, fabrics, manufacturing methods and quality control • Age jeans
BRANDS • Diesel
• 55-DSL
• Diesel Black Gold
• Diesel Kid
collaborations
•  Safilo/Marcolin
• Fossil
• L’oreal
• Adidas
• Fiat
• Ducati
• AGV
• Pinarello
company history • 1978 Founded – Renzo Rosso & Adriano Goldschmied (AG Jeans co) – Moldova Italy
• Intention – untraditional jeans only but grown to make other products • Why DIESEL? • Diesel an alternate fuel source • Pronounciation same in most languages
• 1985 – Rosso gained sole control • 1988 – Hired Wilbert Das • Responsible style and image • 2009 left company
creative director
• 1991 – International marketing campaign • 1996 – Flagship store NYC >300 stores in > 80 countries
Renzo Rosso
• Graduated Industrial textile school, 1975 • Developed distressed denim • Drove around Europe trying to sell jeans • Failed – jeans looked 2nd hand & can’t sell old jeans
• Years later – Diesel founded pioneering the used jean look • Used items – warmer & softer, more charm
philosophy • View world as a single, border-less macro-culture • Youth – inspiration
• Mission Statement – ‘create apparel for individual people who follow their own unique path in life and for those style makers who express their individuality by the way they dress.’ • Reject typical fashion trend • Not biggest, but coolest
target market • 18-35 yrs • Mostly men • Well educated, articulate • Independent • Tolerant • Leisure-time orientated • Early adult, young professional with extra money to spend on clothes
marketing
• Specific appeal to their target market • Depict brands philosophies • Abandoned cliché of - photographer – product – model • Communication is key – sold a lifestyle instead
‘FOR SUCCESSFUL LIVING’
• Smart, controversial campaigns – combine fantasy, sex, humour create new alternate pop universe • Address current affair issues & poke fun at the norms.
Previous themes o GLOBAL WARMING READY, 2007
o LIVE FAST, 2008
o BE STUPID, 2010 – present
budget • Unknown • Revenue 2009 – £1.3 billion • Spent US $ 5.8 million on advertising, 2009 • No pressure to make enormous profit or meet deadlines
design process
• 2 Research trips during the year • Anywhere in world • Return with new inspiration • Colours • Graphic • Materials
materials • Various fabrics • mostly denim – 100% cotton • Italian leather • Canvas
• Stainless steel and copper trimmings • Zips, studs, rivets, buttons
manufacturing • Diesel outsources – India, Turkey • Jeans – mostly exclusively in Italy TRADITIONAL DENIM JEANS 100% cotton – twill woven
• Denim is now cut by machines using templates to produce the different pieces using laser cutting machines • Leg panels, waistbands, pockets, belt loops etc…
• Jeans are then manually assembled using sewing machines. • Jeans now pre-washed and stone washed – pumice stone – faded, warn appearance
• Leg mannequins • Whiskering/lightening by spraying or painting o crease jeans in desired place
• Rips/Abrasions with sandpaper, hooks & grinders
Initial Product Ideas – week 1 • Play with the ‘be stupid’ concept – create a product that is ambiguous for eg: • At first glance it is stupid but then it appears smart • One can’t work without the other • One fits into the other
• Use of different textiles and industrial materials • Denim • Leather • Zips, screws, nuts, bolts, chains
• Play with sexiness and provocative themes
DESIGN RATIONALE
“Stupid might fail. Smart doesn’t even try.” • Why choose diesel? • look = sexy, provocative, fresh, young, industrial -SEX SELLS • Materials – style revolution for successful living
• Inspiration – ‘Be Stupid’
• Concept – to create a package of interest. • Unzip/’undress’ therefore hinting at a sexual nature • Interfaces – retro-styled with interchanged features • Clock = radio • Radio = clock – rotating mechanism of hours and minutes
STUPID??? NO, SMART!!!
• Denim strips are reversible with a hinge mechanism giving a dual look. • Side graphics – a naked man and woman with straps covering private areas – adds to naughty desire to unzip box – STRIP TEASE - “If we didn’t have stupid thoughts we would have no interesting thoughts at all”
• Materials - affordable to the company • offcuts from the manufacturing factories, thus reducing the cost of outsourcing expensive materials. The nuts and bolts are also inexpensive and go well with the industrial Diesel look. • A win win. “Trust Stupid.”
“Are you smart enough to be stupid?”
FINAL PRODUCTS
Orthographic drawings
Perspective drawings