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With is trend-setting graffiti; shop openings that turn into happenings; unconventional designs; and constant innovation, Desigual has become one of Spain’s most popular youthwear labels. Fashionfromspain.com spoke to general manager Manuel Adell about the non-conformist spirit of a company which started out in Ibiza and its growth plan.

Desigual has made a big name for itself in the past few years. How did it all start?

It goes back to 1981-82, when a 20-year-old Swiss designer called Thomas Meyer spent his summers making T-shirts in Ibiza. Before long, he’d opened a second-hand shop by the port which was running until recently. That brought tourists into contact with the brand. One season, Meyer had a lot of jeans left over and used them to create jackets. People just lapped them up, not only in Ibiza, but all over Europe, particularly in Germany. After two or three successful seasons the collection was named Desigual in 1984, using a mould-breaking logo with two naked figures and the slogan “Desigual is not the same” created by the Spanish film director Isabel Coixet. She was working in advertising at the time and was a friend of the founder. The current logo with the inverted “s” is by designer Frederick Thomas.

Why inverted?

The brand is about spontaneity, positive feeling and unconventional creation. It’s closely linked to an unstructured approach to life and seeing things from a new angle, hence the inversion. Our designs break with convention. They try to show the bright side to life.

Despite its origins in Ibiza, Desigual is now more associated with Barcelona

It really originated in both locations, but today operates out of Barcelona, where our head office and logistics centre are based. But we also have a very global dimension and our 100-strong workforce in Barcelona includes people of 14 or 15 different nationalities. Thomas Meyer is still the driving force and heads up the creative team.

How does your design team operate?

We have three designers working closely together with a group of product managers. They monitor trends and analyse collection structure, opportunities and risks.

“When you open a shop, you can either just roll up the blinds or turn it into a less conventional occasion”

Is Desigual a fashion-follower or a trend-setter?

We just do our own thing. We have a pretty defined brand personality and now we even see other labels taking their inspiration from us. So it’s certainly more about creating fashion.

Your logo, T-shirt messages and store décor reveal a brand very much into street culture and graffiti

Graffiti is one of the most spontaneous forms of expression. But we don’t use graffiti just for the sake of it. We’re trying to get a message across. We’ve had some curious experiences with our T-shirt slogans, like the 'War is not the answer' one on sale during the Iraq conflict. It looked as if we’d done it deliberately, but it was actually designed 12-months earlier. That was a time of major world conflicts with great tension in Israel, and the T-shirt became the focus of the collection.