On Tuesday, as many fashion insiders made their way to Florence for Pitti Uomo, some press, celebrities and creators took a slight detour. In the hometown of CP Company, Bologna, the brand’s creative community explored its archive, research and development (R&D) labs, and became part of a special project, which will be revealed on Friday evening during Milan Fashion Week Men’s.
Post-pandemic, Milan — the capital of men’s tailoring — has become a hub for contemporary fashion and technical outerwear. CP Company is one of the labels leading the charge, under the stewardship of Lorenzo Osti, son of the label’s founder, Massimo. Established in 1971, CP Company has undergone several ownership changes during its 54-year history. Notably, the brand was acquired by competitor Stone Island’s founder and president Carlo Rivetti in 1993. Both Stone Island and CP Company boomed during the ’80s and ’90s, popularised by the UK’s ‘casuals’ football fan subculture. And CP Company’s Goggle jacket, with eye goggles built into the hood, remains a core item for the brand following its popularity during the period.
Rivetti sold CP Company to FGF Industry in 2010. It was then acquired by Tristate Partners in 2015, who appointed Osti as president in 2019. The brand thrived under his stewardship. CP Company revenues grew from €9.2 million in 2015 to €120 million in 2022, as post-pandemic, streetwear growth slowed, and men shifted focus from logos and drops to fabrication and performance, boosting gorpcore and technical outerwear for the city. This thrust once-niche CP Company into the mainstream, decades after its initial casuals peak.
Following this explosive growth, like many labels, CP Company met challenges. Revenue growth has been flat for the last couple of years, according to the brand (it declined to share exact revenues), due to market conditions. Today, Osti is grappling with scaling the business and building on its momentum, without losing its niche, IYKYK community feel. Vogue Business sat down with him to discuss the Milan event and understand what’s next.
Vogue: Lorenzo, it’s great to meet you. I’m looking forward to the presentation on Friday in Milan. Can you explain what your Spring/Summer 2026 presentation, ‘Behind the Seams’, is about and why you landed on this concept over a more traditional presentation or show?
As you probably know, catwalks are not our cup of tea. We have never had one. We need people to get close to the clothes. So we’re always looking for different formats. We do a lot of industrial, artisanal work, and R&D behind the scenes, and that is actually what gives CP Company its power. We wanted our audience to see behind the scenes, via our community. So we invited a number of people who follow us to visit our special place: the Massimo Osti archive in Bologna and our R&D department in Padua. We let them roam free in there, because we were curious to see what our community will oscillate to within the archive. The [community] then filmed videos and content around that and what they think of CP Company, which will be revealed tomorrow.
Vogue: CP Company had explosive growth from 2015 to 2022. What led to this boom?
CP Company is a 50-year-old brand but it has only worked properly a few times — and it only ever worked when the brand was able to understand what was going on in society. So that happened in the ’70s, in Bologna [where it boomed locally after the brand was founded]. It happened in the ’80s and ’90s in the UK, and also in Italy, with the casuals, it happened briefly with a collection that former head of design Moreno Ferrari did ahead of the year 2000 and it’s working again now.
I think what you mentioned before, the history, the heritage, the archive, is something that resonates with young people. With the rise of fast fashion, everyone started to look similar. Young people want to build their identities, so they spend time and effort searching for vintage pieces, or for brands that carry meaning. What really surprised me is when we have young guys in their 20s coming to visit the archive, they’re always extremely prepared. They know things about my father, about the brand history, very small details. It’s the 50-plus years of history we’re sitting on that’s key to our success.
Vogue: CP Company sales growth has also flattened more recently. What led to this and how are you addressing the slowdown?
First, we come from a boom that was exceptional — almost unreasonable. Everybody was selling so much. The problem is, if you set your benchmark there, then it’s an issue. Of course, after the boom, with inflation and price rises, people changed their habits, shifting spend to experiences or shopping secondhand. So overall, selling new fashion is difficult.
The good thing for us is that consumers are shifting to the more premium part of the collection. So we had quite a significant slowdown in basic items like logo fleeces that were selling a lot in 2021 and 2022, with large increases in premium outerwear that come with more R&D. So I think we sit in a good position for that, because maybe let’s say that the logo-driven market has faded out; but if you are strong from a product perspective, you’re still relevant.
Vogue: Did you have to raise prices?
We had to, but I fought against it. We didn’t even rise to cover the whole inflation. We increased prices by 20 per cent in three years. But the costs rose to maybe 30 per cent, so we had to absorb some of it. We really didn’t want to raise anything, but the margin was eroding so quickly due to rising material costs. So we did it, but we tried not to put too much on the consumer. I think that paid off because the brands who did actually [raise prices] are now suffering a much stronger slowdown.
Vogue: How are you responding to this slowdown in sales?
For us, the flattening is kind of a breath of fresh air. We are using this time to strengthen the company. We’re working on HR, hiring and filling some gaps we had in retail. We’re focusing on opening stores in key cities, not at a very high rate because of the uncertainty of the general market, but the ones we’ve opened are going well. We opened a big store in Paris in February, and now we are looking for locations in Manchester and Bologna. These openings are synergic with the operation we’re doing on the marketing side, sponsoring the Manchester City and Bologna football teams.
Vogue: I’m from Manchester. My nephew who lives there is 12 and loves both CP Company and Manchester City. You announced the partnership in September 2024. How did it come about?
It’s happening everywhere. We are reaching a very young audience. As for Manchester City, it’s been a delicate operation. We’ve always been bonded to football, but back in the day, brands didn’t want to be associated with [teams] because of the violence. But the sport has changed a lot and we’re still very relevant in that community. Right now, our biggest challenge is to grow without losing our authenticity.
We used to say CP is for those who know, and those who don’t, don’t matter. Which is great, but it’s also a limitation. If you want to grow, you have to become a bit more mainstream, but we really don’t want to lose that essence. That was the reason we picked that specific team, because our link with Manchester is authentic. The casuals subculture was born there. But also, the team is so big that the partnership allows us to reach a new audience.
Vogue: You are also a long time partner of Bologna FC, the brand’s local team. Why is it important to balance big and small partners, and why is football such an important investment?
Bologna is very different. It’s a small team, it’s local and it’s Italian, but we also won the Coppa Italia, which meant the company got a lot of visibility. The most direct KPI of collaborations is e-commerce sales in the target market. And in e-commerce, Italy revenue is up threefold on last year, and the UK is up 1.5 times. I believe that’s partly because of these partnerships.
We’re going to continue to insist on our connection with football, to pay homage to all of the people in that space, on the terraces, that kept CP Company alive for all the time that CP was not successful. There’s been a long time, maybe 30 years, where these people were the only consumer. And we are very, very grateful. If it wasn’t for them, this brand probably wouldn’t have existed anymore. So we want to continue on this path.
Vogue: In terms of your retail strategy, what percentage of the business is direct-to-consumer and what percentage is wholesale?
We are roughly around 30 per cent direct retail at the moment. I would like to get up to 40; maximum 45 per cent. I believe a lot in wholesale and that you need a mix of channels.
Vogue: Which markets are you performing well in currently, and where do you see potential for growth?
Historically, it’s always been France and the UK, but they’ve slowed down a little lately. With the UK, the customer was the basic customer who bought logos, and that’s gone backwards a little [in terms of growth]. We have other markets that are a bit more sophisticated in the buying, and these are the ones that are growing more now. So Germany, Italy, Japan and China are now at the top of the list. As it stands, I think Italy is market number one. The UK is market number two. I think France is still number three. Korea is also very significant for us, and China and Japan are recent; we signed retail partnerships in both countries two years ago, but they are growing very well and very quickly.
Vogue: You hired creative director Leonardo Fasola in January. Why did you want this creative change and what impact is he having on the company?
[Former creative directors since 2012] Paul Harvey and Alessandro Pungetti are between 65 and 70, so sooner or later we had to face this. Leonardo is the perfect choice for several reasons: he used to assist Paul Harvey, so he knows the brand well; he has his own brand, Nemen, which means he understands the industrial side; and he is also a great team builder. Paul Harvey was more like my father — they both worked by themselves, like great geniuses. Leonardo is very good at bringing everybody together; everybody feels more involved and engaged in the creative process.
The sales meetings are now small workshops rather than presentations, so we have much more interaction and feedback with buyers. We talk all the time. I feel like there’s that real synergy now between the business side and the creative side. It was also Leonardo’s idea to change the format of the presentation.
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