How OVO's Co-Founder Created Stone Island's First-Ever Basketball Collab (EXCLUSIVE)
Basketball loves Stone Island. Stone Island loves basketball. But Stone Island has never hit the basketball court, at least not in any official capacity.
Nicholas “Niko” Carino, co-founder of Drake's OVO collective, finally changed that.
How does it feel that Stone Island is joining Carino's team, the Scarborough Shooting Stars, on the hardwood?
"It means a lot," Carino told Highsnobiety. "[We] share the same values through sport. Over the years I’ve had the opportunity to work with Stone Island on a few projects and it’s always easy [because] their core values are similar to what I believe in."
Carino is the president of the Scarborough Shooting Stars, the eighth franchise in the burgeoning Canadian Elite Basketball League, in 2021. Its most famous member was Jermaine Cole, better known as J. Cole (yes, that J. Cole) and Drake, Carino's longtime friend, occasionally stops by games.
But the Scarborough Shooting Stars isn't only measured by its, er, star power. It's a dedicated professional team with activations that range from events for local youths to a seasonal golf tournament.
Its Stone Island partnership is a sign of Carino's pull but also indicative of SSS' weight as an organization, which previously created collaborative clothing only with OVO's clothing line. It's the real deal, here for the long haul.
"This partnership is more of a symbol that means growth, solidarity and power in numbers," Carino explained. "Sharing these values through sport and fashion can be easier to relate to the youth."
It's all in the family. And Stone Island x SSS provides an excellent moment to bring more friends into the flock.
For SSS' athletes, Stone Island created a custom warm-up suit comprising a jacket and matching trousers, both cut from Stone Island's garment-dyed Nylon Metal, a lightweight material often utilized for Stone Island's packable rainwear.
"This is a full-circle moment for us," Carino says. "Would never forget, Oliver [El-Khatib, OVO co-founder] put me on and schooled me on the quality and innovation early. The garments are innovative and you can feel the love put into the creativity of each piece they make."
Though the Stone Island warm-up clothes were designed for SSS athletes, they'll be available to the public (albeit in limited supply) at a dedicated Stone Island Night in Toronto at the SSS' penultimate home game of the 2024 season.
The collab reflects SSS' growth as a young pro basketball organization but also demonstrates the new direction of Stone Island's new CEO Robert Triefus, who joined the company in 2023 after 15 years at Gucci.
It may not be Triefus' hand directly, given that he's been on the job for only a single year, but Stone Island — a perpetual youth culture staple — has really leaned into its younger, fashion-oriented side as of late, demarcated by big moments like a New Balance 574 sneaker, Dover Street Market team-up, a landmark Dior partnership and Stone Island's first-ever Milan Fashion Week presentation.
The SSS collaboration is a smaller project than Stone Island typically engages in, but its personal touch and communal angle only amplifies the greater intent.
And, at least there'll finally be more Stone Island basketball action beyond a charmingly out of date "Welcome Back NBA!" press release in 2011.
