With 100 percent control of his company and brand, Rosso set out to develop a new way of creating fashion. Diesel began hiring a new generation of design staff--all hand-chosen by Rosso himself--bringing in young design school graduates from across the world and giving them the mandate to ignore what the rest of the world's fashion community was doing and instead create clothing to reflect their own, and Rosso's, personalities. Designers were encouraged to allow free reign to their creativity--and ultimately to design the clothing they themselves would want to wear. In addition, Rosso instituted a new sort of 'research trip.' Designers were required to travel at least two times a year, were given complete freedom and an unlimited budget to choose their destinations, and in turn were invested with the mission to return to the company's headquarters with the inspiration to create the next season's line of Diesel clothing.
Such onorthodox design methods quickly helped the company develop a reputation for offbeat, even avant-garde design, and proved immensely appealing to the company's core European youth market. The debut of the company's Diesel Female collection in 1989 further expanded the company's target markets. Until then, the company's sales had remained for the most part within Italy; Rosso now determined to spread the company internationally, boosting its presence to some 40 countries, with sales topping $130 million, by the start of the decade. The company also attempted to enter the U.S. market, turning to a U.S.-based manufacturer, Russ Togs, to handle its distribution.
The year 1991 represented a hallmark in the company's history. In that year, Diesel hired Stockholm, Sweden-based advertising firm DDB Paradiset to help it fashion a new, global advertising campaign. Developed in conjunction with Diesel's own in-house creative team, the Paradiset campaign had as its objective to roll out a single advertising image to all of the Italian firm's international markets.