Glenn Martens to Exit Diesel After Final Milan Show Sept. 22

Diesel confirmed Glenn Martens will leave the denim house after his spring 2027 show on September 22, staying on as Maison Margiela creative director.

Diesel announced on September 18, 2026 that Glenn Martens will step down as creative director, with his departure taking effect after the brand's spring 2027 runway show, scheduled for 4 p.m. CET on Tuesday, September 22, the opening day of Milan Fashion Week, according to WWD. The Belgian designer will remain in the OTB Group's orbit, retaining his role as creative director of Maison Margiela, a position he has held since January 2025 when he succeeded John Galliano. Diesel, TheIndustry.fashion, and Oui Speak Fashion all report that no successor has been named, with the brand saying a successor will be revealed "in due course." Martens joined Diesel in October 2020 in what The Zoe Report describes as the label's first-ever creative director role, following a 2018 guest stint for the experimental Diesel Red Tag capsule series.

The exit lands as a genuine shock in the middle of fashion's designer shuffle, since TheIndustry.fashion notes the show is only three days after the announcement and Martens had just steered Diesel to what multiple outlets describe as its strongest commercial stretch in years. According to TheIndustry.fashion and Oui Speak Fashion, OTB's 2025 full-year results showed Diesel achieved its best profitability in a decade, and Whoopsee reports the label became the OTB Group's leading brand by revenue under his leadership. TheIndustry.fashion also notes the wider group posted turnover of €1.7 billion and EBITDA of €237.3 million. Leaving at a high point, while also handing over at a house fresh off a CEO appointment — Diesel named Andrea Rigogliosi chief executive in January 2026, per Oui Speak Fashion — makes the timing read less like a fade and more like a deliberate handoff, though no outlet speculates on his reasons.

The outlets converge on a consistent record of what Martens actually did at Diesel. WWD credits him with injecting fresh energy and catapulting the brand back onto the hype radar, hammering three pillars — denim in all its forms, utilitarian influences, and MTV-heyday pop aesthetics — before more recently shifting toward longer hems and tailored silhouettes to reach a more mature audience. The Zoe Report highlights his denim innovation, the viral 1DR shoulder bag launched on the Spring/Summer 2022 runway, the Only Desire fragrance with Dove Cameron, and the jelly-textured Melissa collaboration. TheIndustry.fashion adds that his spring/summer 2023 presentation drew nearly 5,000 people.

Renzo Rosso's own statement frames the scale of what Diesel is losing. WWD quotes the founder saying Martens' contribution "has been extraordinary," that he "transformed the way the brand is perceived," and brought Diesel "back to the center of the global fashion conversation while preserving the openness, energy and accessibility that have always distinguished us." Whoopsee notes that when Martens arrived in 2020, the label had drifted out of touch with Gen Z, and that his archive-driven, irreverent campaigns such as "Diesel x Diesel" pulled the brand toward a contemporary direction rather than nostalgia. Meanwhile Maison Margiela, per TheIndustry.fashion and Oui Speak Fashion, grew 8.4% year over year in 2025, making it OTB's fastest-growing brand that year — meaning Martens now concentrates on a house on an upward curve while the denim giant that anchors the group must find new creative leadership.

The immediate next beat is the spring 2027 show itself, which promises to be a fittingly cheeky send-off: WWD reports Martens teased it to his 367,000 Instagram followers with an image showing a woman's butt and men's abs behind a steamy glass panel. After that, attention turns to two open questions. First, who succeeds him at Diesel — the brand has said only that an announcement will come "in due course," per TheIndustry.fashion. Second, what his undivided attention means for Maison Margiela, where DSCENE magazine notes he presented his first Artisanal collection during Paris Haute Couture Week in July 2025 before extending his direction into ready-to-wear. The Zoe Report places the news within a wider year of designer churn, citing Dario Vitale joining Emporio Armani, Olivier Rousteing joining Rabanne, and Ib Kamara exiting Off-White.

For devoted followers of the house, the story of the tenure is best read as a two-act arc the outlets describe in overlapping terms. Act one was the Gen Z capture: WWD describes collections referencing Diesel's early-2000s heyday, built on twisted, wrapped and trompe-l'oeil denim, while Whoopsee recalls the archive digs with Rosso that produced provocative campaigns reconnecting a fading label with younger buyers. Act two was maturation and spectacle: WWD notes pop prints and shrunken proportions gave way to longer hems and tailoring, and DSCENE details the runways that blurred show and public event. Martens' roots — Bruges upbringing, Antwerp's Royal Academy class of 2008, a junior role recruited personally by Jean Paul Gaultier after his graduation show, per WWD — and his 11 years at Y/Project, which he left in 2024 according to DSCENE, complete the portrait of a designer now betting his future entirely on couture-adjacent Paris at Margiela.