Errolson Hugh A Fraud, and A Baby?!?!

I’ll be frank with you. Stone Island Shadow Project is wack. I assume that you know what Stone Island is already because you’re on this website. Do you know about Shadow Project though?

Even if you do, go to the website right now. Or just google it. You probably looked at the jackets and sweaters and thought, “that just looks like normal Stone Island. Yeah, that’s my point. Do you know who the creative director of Stone Island: Shadow Project is though? It’s Errolson Hugh, from ACRONYM. You couldn’t really tell by looking at the pieces, right?

I don’t know about you, but a Stone Island offshoot with Errolson Hugh at the helm sounds like a match made in heaven to me. Maybe I sound like a dickhead, but he’s basically the face of tech-wear and Stoney puts out pieces that use technical materials and stuff, but they usually don’t go all out like ACRONYM does.

So, the absolute number one name in tech-wear joined forces with Stone Island, known for their unique choices of materials and timeless style. Every single season of Stone Island: Shadow Project should be full of crazy shit. But somehow, year after year, we end up with more of the same; essentially normal Stoney with a black badge. I have a hunch why Shadow Project is so boring.

Look at these two bombers. They look basically the same. The jacket on the left is Shadow Project, and even though there is a $200 price difference, there’s no real design contrast between the two. It’s almost as if there’s no Errolson influence there at all, which brings us to my theory. I don’t think that Errolson Hugh has much to do with Stone Island: Shadow Project’s designs at all. I think he has as much to do with the brand as George Lucas has to do with the new Star Wars movies. It’s not just some offhand guess either, I’m willing to bet on it.

How can I be so sure, you ask? Well, you don’t have to look much further than Nike ACG’s collections pre-2018 for evidence. Errolson Hugh was appointed as head of that offshoot just as he was with Stone Island’s, But the change in designs was immediate and drastic.

Time for another comparison. Look at the shoe on the left. It’s from ACG’s 2012 collection (two years before Errolson took over), and it looks like a 90’s throwback. The colorway, the silhouette, and the materials are all very retro. The boot you see on the right is from the 2017 lineup, when Errolson-ACG was in full swing, and it couldn’t be more different. It’s all black, has an aggressive silhouette, and makes use of technical materials. This is the kind of effect that the ACRONYM designer would have on Stone Island, too, if he actually designed for it.

So now you might be asking, who cares? Well, I wouldn’t call it “caring”, but it bothers me that there’s so much wasted potential in Shadow Project, and it should bother you too.We could have a fantastic offshoot, in the same vein as the now defunct Errolson Nike ACG, but apparently the higher-ups at Stone Island don’t think that ACRONYM’s futuristic style is what the brand needs, while ironically having one of ACRONYM’s lead designers as Stone Island Shadow Project's creative director.