Original Penguin Lands in Milan: A Pop-Up With 1960s Golf Vibes and European Ambitions
Original Penguin, the sportswear brand owned by Perry Ellis International, has opened a pop-up shop inside Rinascente, Milan's leading department store. The space carries the brand's fall 2026 collection and stays open until 5 October WWD.
The pop-up sits in Rinascente's Annex, a section of the store dedicated to premium contemporary brands. The design leans into Original Penguin's golf-culture origins: walnut timber, brushed concrete in a subdued cream shade, metal accents and the brand's signature blue, all meant to evoke a 1960s vintage feel WWD.
Oscar Feldenkreis, Original Penguin's CEO, said the Rinascente project strengthens the brand's presence in Italy and continues its growth journey across Europe WWD.
The Milan pop-up is not a one-off. Earlier in summer 2026, Original Penguin returned to Pitti Uomo — the menswear trade show held in Florence — for the first time since 2019, unveiling a spring 2027 collection inspired by the Italian Riviera WWD. The Florence appearance had been flagged in June, when WWD reported that a September Rinascente pop-up was in the works WWD.
The brand has been building its European footprint on other fronts too. In April 2026 it opened a new showroom in central London and laid out plans for expanded presence at key UK retailers, including John Lewis WWD. Pitti Uomo in June placed Original Penguin alongside Ralph Lauren as American brands seeing growth opportunity in Europe Glossy.
On the product side, Original Penguin promoted its fall 2026 line on Instagram on 10 August 2026, highlighting a terry-cloth "Johnny collar" shirt Instagram. The collection had been previewed in April under the tagline "quiet statement dressing," with minimalist silhouettes, via the brand's Argentina Facebook account Facebook.
The pop-up format itself has a backstory. Original Penguin previously launched an Aspen-inspired pop-up retail concept in 2017, using walnut wood textures and white backdrops to carry its full apparel range FashionNetwork. The Milan design revisits that walnut-and-neutral palette, this time with a 1960s golf-club mood rather than a ski-resort one.
For shoppers passing through Rinascente over the next four weeks, the pop-up offers a compact look at where Original Penguin sits right now: an American heritage sportswear name, dressed in Italian retail surroundings, mid-way through a deliberate European push.
