Stone Island returned as the official partner of Frieze Focus, the Frieze London section dedicated to the young gallery scene, marking the fashion brand's 12th year of partnership with the fair. As part of the commitment, Stone Island provides each participating Focus gallery with a bursary to enable its participation; since 2023 the programme has supported 136 galleries across 246 presentations.

The 2026 edition of the curated section features a raft of new participants, including 243 Luz, Chemould CoLab, eastcontemporary, Ehrlich Steinberg, Galerina, Linseed and Theta, alongside returning galleries such as 56 Henry, Ginny on Frederick, Harlesden High Street, Eli Kerr and King's Leap. Alongside the partnership, Stone Island presented the ninth iteration of the Focus artist uniform T-shirt series, this year featuring an artwork by Arébénor Basséne, presented by Dakar gallery Selebe Yoon. The shirts went on sale at Selfridges from 12 October as part of the retailer's Selected Works programme at The Corner Shop.

Stone Island celebrated the continuing partnership with a community dinner on 14 October at 40 Duke, Selfridges, co-hosted by its CEO Robert Triefus and Frieze London director Eva Langret. Frieze's EMEA director has said the fair's energy comes from bringing together established centres and scenes gaining recognition further afield — a range she frames as an argument for giving space, visibility and serious attention to artists and galleries advancing contemporary practice wherever they are based.

The Focus section has become one of Frieze London's defining features for discovering younger galleries, and the bursary model directly addresses the cost barrier that keeps small, emerging dealers out of major fairs. With 136 galleries supported across 246 presentations since 2023, the programme now forms a substantial part of the section's ecosystem as this year's fair closes.