Fila unveiled its special Milano collection for Fall 2026 during Milan Fashion Week, marking the brand's 115th anniversary. Designed by creative director Alistair Carr, the lineup reinterprets Italian sportswear with an edgy urban twist. The show featured hyper-layered looks and signature elements on a runway with towering light totems.
The Fila Milano special collection was presented on Sunday in Milan, as the heritage brand celebrates its 115th anniversary. Italian sportswear has long been influenced by brands like Fila, established in the first half of the 20th century to meet demand for domestic athletic gear. While some have become lifestyle brands while retaining their activewear roots, few had previously adopted a fashion-forward approach until this collection.
Alistair Carr, an industry veteran appointed as creative director for the project, emphasized duality in his vision. “I have been obsessed with the idea of duality for many years now: minimal with super functional, complex technical construction with effortless shape, heritage fused with innovation….It is in these tensions, these conversations, I find interesting sparks start to emerge,” Carr said in a preview.
The runway display incorporated Fila's key codes through an urban lens, including hand-knit versions of the signature velour track jacket paired with a wrap skirt for women and leather boxing shorts for men. Hyper-layering, a prominent trend in Milan this season, appeared in performance turtlenecks under white shirts, topped with knit running bralettes, quarter-zip sweaters, and outerwear like a suede and leather jacket.
Elements of subverted 1990s preppy style included Oxford ties tucked into shirts and polo shirts with open weave panels. Track jackets featured the diagonal chevron pattern, originally designed by former Fila designer Pierluigi Rolando, which also inspired draped frocks with V- or mock necks. Sweaters knotted scarf-like over running shorts and a celeste zippered overshirt, or atop a red parka and technical skirt suit, evoked the style of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette, highlighted in the FX miniseries “Love Story.”
Other outfits ranged from a Milanese corporate look in a gray boxy skirt suit with a front slit, to a nerdy ensemble of sartorial pants and woolen bomber jacket, and a boss lady's flowing mixed-media skirt of silk, perforated leather, and lace trim under a mannish overshirt and duster coat. Most looks were completed with the new “Sleek” sneakers collection, available at a pop-up in 10 Corso Como.
Fila's previous Milan Fashion Week appearance was in 2018, focusing on metropolitan functionality. This show highlighted the brand's emerging urban cool credibility.
