C.P. Company

C.P. Company is an Italian sportswear brand founded in Bologna in 1971 by Massimo Osti. The brand's research, development and design still takes place in Italy, at its Trinovation Lab in Padua where all fabric treatment and garment dyeing innovation is carried out.

Massimo Osti was an Italian graphic designer who founded C.P. Company in 1971 and went on to found Stone Island in 1982. He pioneered garment dyeing, the process of dyeing fabrics after a garment has been constructed rather than before, which gives each piece its distinctive depth of colour. Osti is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in modern Italian sportswear design.

The name comes from C.P. Company's sponsorship of the Mille Miglia, a legendary Italian vintage car race, in 1988. Massimo Osti designed a style of jacket with integrated goggle lenses in the hood, inspired by Japanese Civil Defence protective hoods, along with a watch-viewer lens on the sleeve. The jacket was built for the conditions of open-top motoring and the Mille Miglia name has stuck ever since.

Yes. The lens is designed to be removable, and C.P. Company recommend removing it and any other detachable accessories before washing.

C.P. stands for Chester Perry, the brand's original name. Osti named it after the factory where Bristow, the main character in Frank Dickens' British comic strip, works. The name was changed to C.P. Company in 1978 after Chester Barrie and Fred Perry both took legal action over the use of their names.