Glenn Martens Has Left Diesel. What Happens Now?

Spring 2027 was Glenn Martens' final collection for Diesel, closing a six-year tenure that transformed the denim label into one of Milan's most closely watched fashion brands

Glenn Martens has officially presented his final collection as creative director of Diesel. The Spring 2027 show in Milan on September 23 marked the end of a six-year tenure that began with his appointment in October 2020 and saw the Belgian designer oversee a significant creative repositioning of the Italian brand.

Martens' departure is not unexpected. Diesel announced in May that he would step down from the role, allowing him to focus fully on Maison Margiela, where he was appointed creative director in January 2025. The move brought an unusual period of overlap to an end, during which Martens was simultaneously responsible for two major labels within the OTB fashion group.

His final Diesel collection functioned partly as a survey of the ideas that defined his tenure. Denim was distressed, manipulated, printed and reconstructed; trompe-l'oeil effects returned alongside body-conscious silhouettes, hybrid garments and the deliberately provocative styling that has become familiar under Martens. The designer described the collection as a celebration of the creative vocabulary developed with his team over the past six years rather than an attempt to introduce an entirely new direction for his final season.

Martens leaves a considerably different Diesel from the one he inherited. Founded by Renzo Rosso in 1978, the brand had long possessed enormous recognition through denim and its irreverent advertising history, but Martens repositioned it firmly within the contemporary fashion conversation. Experimental denim treatments became central to the runway identity, while viral pieces including distressed garments and the highly visible 1DR bag helped introduce Diesel to a younger audience.

He also changed the way the brand presented itself. Shows became large-scale spectacles, and in 2022 Diesel opened its Milan runway to members of the public, challenging fashion week's traditionally invitation-only model. Subsequent seasons continued to experiment with access and spectacle, helping make the runway itself part of Diesel's renewed cultural visibility.

The commercial business expanded alongside the creative reset. OTB has repeatedly identified Diesel's repositioning as an important component of the group's strategy, with Rosso crediting Martens and the wider Diesel team with helping restore desirability around the brand. Martens' departure therefore leaves OTB with a more complicated task than simply replacing a designer: it must determine how much of the identity constructed during his tenure belongs to Diesel itself and how much depended upon the person directing it.

For now, there is no announced successor.

That makes the team Martens leaves behind particularly important. Speaking around his final collection, the designer emphasised that Diesel now has both a creative platform and an established team capable of carrying the brand into its next chapter. OTB has not yet detailed whether it intends to appoint another high-profile creative director, promote from within the existing studio or pursue a different creative structure.

Martens, meanwhile, remains inside the OTB group. His attention now shifts exclusively to Maison Margiela, where his appointment followed John Galliano's departure after a decade at the house. His first Artisanal collection for Margiela was presented in Paris in July 2025, beginning a tenure that places one of fashion's most closely watched experimental houses entirely under his direction.

For Diesel, Spring 2027 therefore closes one chapter without yet revealing the next. Martens' successor will inherit a brand with a much clearer contemporary identity than it possessed six years ago, and the considerably harder task of deciding what to do with it.