SUNNEI

SUNNEI is a Milan-based fashion and design brand founded in 2014 by Loris Messina and Simone Rizzo. It began as a direct-to-consumer menswear project built by two founders without formal fashion training, then entered the official Milan calendar for Spring/Summer 2016. Womenswear followed for Spring/Summer 2019, turning the label into a co-ed wardrobe of relaxed tailoring, broad proportions, saturated colour and graphic stripes.

The brand developed through more than clothing. SUNNEI Objects brought furniture and domestic pieces into the system; Radio SUNNEI established a continuous music and image stream; SUNNEI Canvas converted wholesale buying into a three-dimensional customisation platform. Palazzina Sunnei in Milan combines headquarters, studio, shop, café and gallery, making retail and community programming part of the brand’s public identity.

Vanguards Group acquired a majority stake in 2020, financing wider distribution and direct retail while Messina and Rizzo retained creative control. Their runway formats became increasingly performative, from audience scoring and recorded model monologues to the Christie’s-style auction that accompanied their departure in September 2025. SUNNEI remains active under Vanguards. Its post-founder programme has moved away from a standard runway cycle towards collections, performances and monthly community events at Palazzina Sunnei.

SUNNEI built a recognisable product language from ordinary clothing enlarged, coloured and slightly displaced. Boxy shirts, wide trousers, knitted separates and relaxed outerwear use primary colour, stripes and tactile surfaces to create a practical uniform with a deliberate sense of play. The simplicity is controlled: proportion, Italian manufacturing and modular construction give the garments their clarity.

The presentation strategy works at a different temperature. Messina and Rizzo treated the runway as a test of fashion’s habits, asking audiences to score looks, listening to models’ recorded thoughts or turning a final collection into a mock auction. These formats exposed judgement, boredom, speed and commercial value without detaching the spectacle from the clothes being presented.

Architecture and digital systems extend the same approach. Bianco Sunnei converted a neglected space beneath a Milan viaduct into a white cultural venue. SUNNEI Canvas let wholesale buyers alter virtual garments before ordering them. Palazzina Sunnei places studio, shop and cultural programme inside one building, keeping creation, distribution and community visible to one another. After the founders’ departure, the MOMENTO programme has continued this emphasis on local participation and recurring cultural use.