Glenn Martens is new creative director of Diesel

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Oct 8, 2020

Y/Project’s Glenn Martens has been named Diesel’s new creative director with the appointment taking effect immediately. It means the Belgian designer will now oversee all of the global brand’s style, communications, interior design, and overall creativity.

Martens has a distinguished CV with the designer having been creative director of Y/Project since 2013. Born in 1983, he began his fashion career at Jean Paul Gaultier.

He’s had links with Diesel before now having won the ANDAM award (of which Diesel parent OTB is one of the historical supporters) in 2017. In the following year, he was one of the guest designers of Diesel’s experimental capsule series Diesel Red Tag.

Renzo Rosso, president of OTB, was full of praise for him. “Ever since I met Glenn in 2017 I saw his experience grow and his talent cement,” he explained. “Working with him on Diesel Red Tag, going through our company’s archives and heritage together, seeing him interact with the brand, brought us closer, and I am happy to now see him take the helm of Diesel, where he will marry his design vision with the iconoclastic values of this unique brand”.

And Martens is clearly a Diesel fan. He said he’s “extremely honoured and excited to join the Diesel family. Synonymous with radicality, honesty, and optimism, Diesel helped shape the way we see the future. Its unique voice has made it an undeniable icon. Today, more than ever, I feel the need to celebrate these founding values, to build bridges through a message of hope”.

He takes over at an interesting time for the brand as it increasingly goes digital (it recently launched a digital showroom for buyers unable to travel) and adapts to the  coronavirus crisis (it also inked a deal with Polygiene for anti-virus denim).

He’ll be working with ex-Balmain chief Massimo Piombini who took over as Diesel CEO in February.