CP Company

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Current company logo (2010)

CP Company is an Italian fashion brand founded in Ravarino in 1974 as the Chester Perry Company with its own retail stores .

Under the brand name CP Company , upscale leisurewear is offered in the upper middle price segment for men and children and, until 2010, also for women. The brand is known internationally for functional fashion design and the use of unconventional high-tech - materials . CP Company, together with its sister brand Stone Island, which was launched in 1982, initially belonged to CP Company SpA and since 1993 to Italian Sportswear Company SpA . At the beginning of 2010 the CP Company brand was bought by the Italian FGF Industry SpA and at the end of 2015 by the Chinese textile manufacturer Tristate Holding Ltd. accepted.

Company history

Massimo Osti

The Italian advertising graphics designer Massimo Osti (born June 6, 1944 in Baricella ( Bologna ), † June 6, 2005 in Bologna) had already started in the late 1960s to decorate leisure clothing with processes originally developed for paper printing . In 1974 he named the company he founded in Ravarino with a T-shirt manufacturer Chester Perry . The company name is derived from a British comic strip by Frank Dickens , also published in Italy , whose protagonist Bristow works in a factory called Chester Perry. In 1978 the company was renamed the CP Company , also because of the threat of litigation due to the similarity of names with Fred Perry and Chester Barrie (British men's tailor). Osti made a name for himself in the sportswear industry with experimental dyeing techniques , unconventional material treatments and innovative fabric developments from unrelated industries such as aerospace and medical technology . His men's collections followed the motto “ Form follows function ”, and he often looked for his inspiration in the world of functional work clothes and military uniforms that are practical per se .

In 1978, a toddler collection called CP Baby was added, and in the early 1980s Osti launched the more dignified main collection CP Company, the sportier, cheaper side line Boneville (1981) and the progressive secondary line Stone Island (1982, originally and until the end of the 1980s: Stone Island Marina ). Osti borrowed the name 'Boneville' from the motorcycle of the same name from the manufacturer Triumph . Osti had experimented with tarpaulin for trucks , with canvas and nylon, as well as the stonewash technique and came across a reversible, two-tone fabric (Tela Stella), from which he created the first Stone Island collection in low numbers , which was immediately sold out. The name Stone Island, originally proposed by Osti's wife Daniela as "isola di pietra" (Eng. 'Stone Island'), should symbolize the freedom of an island and the indestructibility of stone . The compass , which Osti - himself an enthusiastic sailor and athlete - had attached to fabric labels (the so-called 'badges') on the outside of the clothing stood for the open sea and the constant search for new things. Osti has been a pioneer of garment dyeing (tinto in capo) since 1973, in which in the last work step the already finished garments, often composed of different materials, are dyed instead of dyeing the fabrics or individual threads at the beginning of the process . Osti also made use of the stonewash method. While CP Company embodied discreetly simple, smart fashion in neutral colors, the more colorful, more fashionable and priced slightly lower - albeit high-priced - Stone Island collection for Osti represented the platform for his willingness to experiment, for which he also manufactured industrial machines especially for him procured.

In 1983 Osti sold his 50% stake in the CP Company, which he owned together with the textile manufacturer Trabaldo Togna from Biella , to the GFT group, an Italian textile and licensed fashion manufacturer, but remained chief designer. Osti wanted to focus on design and let others do the business for him. The magazine CP Magazine that at newsstands sold and basically as Kollektions catalog acted, was launched 1985th

New, sometimes futuristic-looking product developments of this time and the following years, which were often accompanied by patents , were cotton ( Stone Island Raso Ray Parka , 1983), wool ( Stone Island Rubber Wool Parka , with a (wafer-thin) rubber layer , 1986) or flax to create water resistance, as well as a fabric material that changed its color after being treated with quartz by the action of heat ( Stone Island Ice Jacket , 1985), fabric material mixed with steel threads or a combination of linen, cotton and rubber ( CP Company Lines Mix Jacket , 1987) and the processing of glass particles in the upper material ( Stone Island Reflective Jacket , 1989). In 1988 he presented for CP Company in honor of the Mille Miglia Cup, the 1000 Miglia Goggle Jacket (dt. Goggles jacket), in the hood , a protective goggles and sleeves at wrist level, a round 'Look-glass' for the view of the wrist watch integrates were. From 1987 to 1991 there was also the high-priced CP Collection , which was revived for a short time in 1994. Despite the great commercial success, the introverted Osti always remained in the background as a designer because he wanted the functionality, innovation and aesthetics of his fashion to appeal to the target group and not the personality of the designer. He saw himself more as a product designer than a fashion designer .

From the mid-1980s onwards, primarily Stone Island, but also CP Company, despite or perhaps precisely because of high sales prices, became popular brands in the, mainly English , football scene . As a result, the company struggled with the image of being a ' hooligan brand', although this fact drove up sales in the UK.

Carlo Rivetti

In 1989 Carlo Rivetti, son of the GFT owner, was appointed managing director of CP Company SpA. Within the GFT group, CP Company SpA, and with it the brands CP Company and Stone Island, became part of the Group's own Sportswear Company SpA. In 1991 GFT took over the remaining 50% of CP Company SpA from Trabaldo Togna. In February 1991, a CP Company store opened in New York's Flatiron Building (closed again in 1996), an investment that is believed to have cost $ 2 million. When GFT wanted to sell CP Company SpA in 1993, Carlo Rivetti and his sister Cristina took over the Sportswear Company SpA with their company Rivetex. Osti left CP Company in 1993 to pursue other projects. Apart from fashion, he was elected to the city ​​council of Bologna in 1989 and 1992 . His design successor was the fashion designer Romeo Gigli . Osti continued to work as a designer for Stone Island for a short time. The Stone Island collection summer 1995 was the last designed by Osti. The Boneville collection has been discontinued. Over the years, Osti had created an archive with 50,000 fabric samples and pieces of clothing. Osti subsequently continued, among other things, the Massimo Osti Studio (founded in 1994 as Massimo Osti Production ), which his son Lorenzo took over after the death of his father, suffering from cancer , and which it still operates today. In the 1990s, the CP Company undersixteen children's collection was launched. In 1994 the CP Company Donna women's line was added to the portfolio . Since 1995 there has been a contract with a Korean licensee who runs its own CP Company boutiques in Korea .

New designers

The Italian designer Moreno Ferrari took over the creative direction of the CP Company collections and the English designer Paul Harvey, who had also co-designed the Boneville collection, was responsible for Stone Island. For CP Company, following on from Osti's functional innovations, Ferrari developed the Urban Protection Concept from 1998 : jackets with integrated smog mask ( Metropolis ), noise protection ( Life ) and safety alarm ( Munch ) or protective goggles (Goggle Jacket); Jackets and West that a foldable aluminum - scooter ( Move ), a flashlight ( Solo ) or a voice recorder ( REM contained). From 2000, the Transformables project was presented with vests and jackets that could be converted into inflatable life cushions , armchairs or air mattresses , or rain capes that became tents .

expansion

In 1999, Sportswear Company opened a third own store for CP Company and Stone Island in London's Soho district (flagship store) after Milan ( flagship store ) and St. Tropez (small concept store). In 2000, Sportswear Company employed 113 people and achieved sales of around DM 100 million . Italy and Great Britain were the company's main sales markets, followed by Germany, Japan and the USA .

In 2001, Alessandro Pungetti was hired as a men's fashion designer at CP Company. The slightly lower-priced Stone Island denims collection was created for Stone Island in the same year (discontinued for the autumn / winter 2009 season). In 2006 the children's collection Stone Island Junior was presented. Sportswear Company's sales in 2006 were € 57 million, 75% of which was generated abroad. In 2007, Sportswear Company had sales of around € 62 million. In 2008, online shops for the CP Company and Stone Island brands were launched on their respective homepages with the help of the Italian internet retailer Yoox . Harvey left Stone Island in 2008 and since then a design team has been taking care of the collections under the direction of designer Gionata Malagodi, who was responsible for Stone Island design between 1994 and 1998 (initially together with Osti). Sales in 2008 were € 62 million. In 2009, the Stone Island brand accounted for 60% of total sales (divided into: 70% Stone Island, 22% Stone Island Denim, 8% Stone Island Junior), CP Company generated 40% of total sales (divided into: 80% CP Company (men ), 12% CP Company Donna (women), 8% CP Company undersixteen). The women's collection was subsequently narrowed. Similarly, in 2009 a German was Vertriebs - daughter of Sportswear Company in the fashion center Fashion Mall Munich established and the Scot Wallace Faulds, a former designer for Burberry and John Galliano as creative director for CP Company of Rivetti appointed.

FGF Industry

At the beginning of 2010, Rivetti sold the CP Company brand after a slump in sales to the Italian entrepreneur Enzo Fusco and his company FGF Industry SpA in Montegaldo ( Padua ) in order to be able to concentrate fully on the Stone Island brand and its expansion, especially in Germany. FGF Industry has owned the exclusive license and distribution rights for the Blauer fashion division since 2001 . USA of the US Uniform manufacturer Blue and, since 2012, the distribution license of the fashion brand Ten C . The new designer for CP Company was initially Fucso himself. The 2011 summer collection under new management was presented in June 2010 in Florence at the Pitti Uomo fashion fair with a focus on classics from the past CP Company collections. The women's fashion was discontinued - with the option to take it back into the program at a later date. Since the end of 2012, Italian Alessandro Pungetti and British Paul Harvey, former CP Company and Stone Island designer, have been creative directors for CP Company. The German sales were controlled by a Düsseldorf agency. In 2013 a CP Company boutique was opened in London not far from the London Palladium , which is the only one that still exists today.

TriState Holding

In November 2015, CP Company was acquired by the Chinese textile manufacturer Tristate Holding Ltd. from Hong Kong for 19.2 million euros. The sale of FGF to Tristate was initiated by the son of Massimo Osti, Lorenzo Osti, who holds a 5% minority share in the new CP Company and was hired as Marketing Director. The designers Pungetti and Harvey were taken over. CP Company's 2014 turnover was 9 million euros, 80% of which was generated outside of Italy. In spring 2018, CP Company collaborated with adidas Originals and presented a collection of clothing and shoes in the typical style of the two brands. The CEO of Tristate Holding, Peter Wang, promoted Lorenzo Osti to the position of 'president' of CP Company in spring 2019.

Boutiques

In addition to the CP Company flagship boutique in London , FGF Industry operated so-called FGF stores for its corporate brands as of 2014 in Milan, Roma, Padua , Cortina d'Ampezzo , Olbia , San Teodoro (Sardinia) and Senigallia , in which the CP Company offered collections become. The CP Company stores in Korea continue to exist.

reputation

CP Company and Stone Island are still considered to be the most technologically advanced sportswear fashion labels in the industry.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Brand history. (No longer available online.) In: stoneisland.co.uk. Archived from the original on March 23, 2010 .;
  2. ↑ a b In memoriam Massimo Osti , Gazzettino, March 27, 2010.
  3. ↑ Dagmar Bagnoli: Massimo Osti: Pioneer of sportswear in men's fashion. (No longer available online.) Textilwirtschaft.de, October 10, 1996, archived from the original on September 27, 2015 .;
  4. ↑ 1000 m Goggle Jacket / Past and Future. beinghunted.com, August 28, 2010 (English).;
  5. ↑ Woody Hochswender: Patterns - Hardy Middle of the Road. New York Times, February 19, 1991 (English).;
  6. ^ Dagmar Bagnoli: CP Company: New Stylist Romeo Gigli. (No longer available online.) Textilwirtschaft, December 23, 1993, archived from the original on September 28, 2015 .;
  7. ↑ Historical Archive. (No longer available online.) Stoneisland.co.uk, archived from the original on March 16, 2012 . ;.
  8. ^ Dagmar Bagnoli: CP Company with a strong start in Korea. (No longer available online.) Textilwirtschaft, June 29, 1995, archived from the original on December 1, 2015 .;
  9. ^ CP Company shops. In: cp.company.co.kr.
  10. ↑ CP Company archive ( Memento of the original from August 26, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , cpcompany-corporate.com, accessed: August 28, 2010. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cpcompany-corporate.com
  11. ↑ Techno Fashion , Bardley Quinn, 2002, pp. 132 ff. (Via Google Books)
  12. ↑ CP Company to open freestanding London store ( Memento from February 23, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), Daily News Record (via Highbeam), November 17, 1999.
  13. ^ CP Company Flagship Store ( Memento March 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), cpcompany.co.uk, accessed: August 28, 2010.
  14. ↑ CP and Stone Island open online stores  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , fashionunited.de, April 2, 2008.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.fashionunited.de  
  15. ↑ Sabine Fiedler: Sportswear Company takes the distribution of its brands CPCompany and Stone Island for Germany into its own hands. (No longer available online.) Textilwirtschaft, January 15, 2009, archived from the original on March 11, 2016 .;
  16. ^ CP Company Appoints Galliano Alumnus Faulds as Head Designer , Fashion Wired Daiy, April 17, 2009.
  17. ↑ Sabine Fiedler: Stone Island should grow without CP. (No longer available online.) Textilwirtschaft, February 25, 2010, archived from the original on November 25, 2015 .;
  18. ^ Enzo Fusco buys CP Company , sportswearnet.com, February 11, 2010.
  19. ↑ CP Company & l'Uomo Vogue , Italian Vogue, June 16, 2010.
  20. ↑ Discovering Pitti: CP Company , stylesavlage.blogspot.com, June 30, 2010.
  21. ↑ Due flagship store e la linea donna nei piani di Cp Company ( memento of October 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), fashionunited.it, October 28, 2010.
  22. ↑ Cp Company venduta ai cinesi di Tristate per 19.2 milioni di euro , fashionunited.it, December 1, 2015
  23. ^ New life course for CP Company , sportswearnet.com, December 1, 2015
  24. ↑ Marcelo Crescenti: CP Company: Management restructuring after takeover. (No longer available online.) Textilwirtschaft, December 2, 2015, archived from the original on December 8, 2015 .;
  25. ↑ Enzo Fusco: "Per CP Company una chance imprescindibile, nel solco della continuità" , fashionmagazine.it, December 1, 2015 (Italian)