Off-White History How Virgil Abloh Built a Luxury Brand

Very few fashion brands have actually upended the industry the way Off-White have. They’ve taken street culture and combined it with high end design to turn the graphic tee, the zip tie and the quotation mark into the new symbols of luxury.

Where Did Off-White Originate?

Off-White is based in Milan and was launched in 2013 by American designer Virgil Abloh. The project actually started a year earlier in 2012 with something called Pyrex Vision. Abloh didn’t want to be a traditional luxury house. He wanted a label where streetwear, art and pop culture could all co-exist.

The name says it all really. Off-White isn’t black and it isn’t white. It’s in the middle, in the grey area. That’s exactly how Abloh thought about design really. He’d question the rules, he’d blur the lines and see what came out of it.

Founded of Off-White Luxury 

The man behind the brand was Virgil Abloh (born 1980 in Rockford, IL). He did his undergrad in civil engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and then went on to do his MArch at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.

That background informed his view of fashion. To Abloh a piece of clothing wasn’t just something you wore. It was an expression of an idea in the same way that a building or a piece of music is. Before Off-White he’d worked with Kanye West and done an internship at Fendi where he learned how music, celebrity and fashion all feed into each other.

Off-White becomes so popular

Off-White grew by doing things differently. The collections were very much in their own sphere: huge fits, lots of quotation marks, industrial details, diagonal stripes, big lettering. It was all about giving a streetwear edge to luxury and it was very much a fresh, contemporary take on that.

The major inflection point was 2017 with the launch of “The Ten” collaboration with Nike. That was a huge global collection, reinterpreting ten of Nike’s classic shoes and it really went down in the fashion world.

Younger customers loved it as the clothes were expressive rather than stiff and traditional. The combination of collaborations and a very strong visual identity saw Off-White become globally recognised.

Virgil Abloh’s Legacy

In March 2018 Abloh was appointed Artistic Director of Louis Vuitton Men’s, a moment of enormous significance in his career. He continued to shape fashion in this way until his death on 28th November 2021 following a private battle with cancer.

His impact is far greater than just clothes. Abloh demonstrated unequivocally that streetwear is legitimate luxury and he inspired a whole generation of designers to mix art, culture and commerce in a completely new way.

What Is Off-White Today?

The brand continues under Abloh’s creative vision. LVMH took a majority stake in 2021. Off-White was sold to Bluestar Alliance in 2024 which marks a new phase in the brand’s journey.

Today Off-White is all about contemporary luxury, streetwear and experimental design formation. Its story is a demonstration of how one designer’s vision can describe the very nature of the relationship between casual clothing and high fashion.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who founded Off-White?

Virgil Abloh founded Off-White in 2013.

Where is Off-White from?

The brand is based in Milan, Italy, though the founder was American.

What does the name Off-White mean?

It’s the grey area between black and white, which is very much in keeping with Abloh’s ethos of pushing the boundaries of fashion.

Who owns Off-White now?

Bluestar Alliance took on the brand in 2024 following LVMH having taken a majority stake in 2021.

What was Off-White’s biggest collaboration?

The 2017 Nike collection “The Ten” is widely seen as its defining collaboration