C.P. Company

C.P. Company was founded in 1971 in Bologna, Italy, by designer Massimo Osti (1944–2005). The brand was originally called Chester Perry but following joint legal action by the British menswear brands Chester Barrie and Fred Perry, the name was changed to C.P. Company in 1978. Initially the company produced t-shirts screen-printed with graphic designs developed by Osti, but by 1973 the brand started to produce other garments including jackets, trousers, and shirts. In 1984 Osti sold the company to GFT (Gruppo Finanziario Tessile) but stayed working with the company as a designer until 1994. In 1993 the company was bought by Carlo Rivetti (b. 1956) and became part of a larger group called Sportswear Company S.p.A. Massimo Osti resigned as creative director in 1994, and Romeo Gigli (b. 1949) was employed as the brand’s creative director, designing menswear, and launching a womenswear line. In 1997, Moreno Ferrari (b. 1952) succeeded Gigli as creative director. In 2001 Alessandro Pungetti was announced as the company's new creative director, where he remained in this role until 2009 when Wallace Faulds (b. 1979) was appointed by Carlo Rivetti as the new head of design. C.P. Company was sold by Rivetti to FGF Industry SpA in 2010. Alessandro Pungetti was reappointed as joint creative director alongside Paul Harvey in 2012. In 2015 FGF Industry SpA sold the company to Tristate Holdings Limited. In 2019, Lorenzo Osti, the son of Massimo Osti, was appointed president of C.P. Company. The brand opened a flagship store in Milan in 2019, followed by new retail locations in Amsterdam in September 2020, Riccione in June 2021, and London in 2022.

C. P. Company’s design process was initially informed by Osti’s substantial garment archive, which was used to research archetypal military, industrial, or utilitarian garments and reinterpret details of their design to inform new design outcomes. By 1996 the archive contained over 35,000 garments. This approach to design was exemplified by the launch in 1991 of the Continuative Garments range from C.P. Company, which saw variations of the same garments being reissued each season, with the use of innovative fabrication and dyeing techniques used to transform these garments. It enabled the brand to perfect and refine a series of core garments, including the Mille Miglia jacket which was based on the Swiss Alpenflage M70 military jacket and features multiple pockets. The Mille Miglia jacket also featured two plastic lenses in the hood which were inspired by research that Osti undertook on protective hoods and anti-gas masks produced during the Second World War. The first Mille Miglia jackets were produced by C.P. Company in 1988 and were initially given away to the organisers and competitors of the Mille Miglia (1000 Miles) endurance race, which the brand sponsored in 1998 and 1989. In 2009, the company invited designer Aitor Throup to design the 20th anniversary version of the Mille Miglia jacket, which was subsequently shortlisted by The Design Museum, London for the Designs of the Year Award 2010.