From the terraces to the streets, C.P. Company has been a constant staple across many wardrobes. It’s a brand that merges luxury materials with contemporary styles, elevating the look and feel of garments through their lens. Using unique and thought provoking practices they bring to life colour and shape in ways no other can do. 

The Footpatrol team took a flight (boat ride and train) to Italy, to find what exactly goes on behind closed doors at C.P. Company’s R&D unit. We discussed all things archive, design and their upcoming collaboration with ASICS on the GEL-Quantum VIII. 

We had the pleasure of speaking with Marketing Director, Enrico Grigoletti, who kindly walked us through the C.P. history and the reasons behind what they do.

Footpatrol: Ciao Enrico! Come Stai haha?

Enrico: I’m good! We had a very intense week in Paris where we presented the ASICS collaboration to the public. We also launched a new brand called Massimo Osti Studio, which was a very exciting moment for us. 

FP: Could we get a little insight into who you are and what you do for C.P. Company?

Enrico: I am the Marketing Director for C.P., I oversee all the marketing activities from the brand and work very closely with the product and design team on the collaborations.

FP: Your journey up until this point has certainly been a creative one, but one thing I need to touch on is your degree. I read you studied economics, is that true?

Enrico: It’s true! I graduated with a masters degree in economics and marketing. My first real job straight out of university was at a multinational consultancy firm as a business consultant, as you can see that didn’t work out *laughs*. After that, I did my solo project for a few years focused around menswear design and style. That later opened the doors into the fashion industry for me. 

FP: C.P. has such a rich history in garment innovation and it’s certainly no new news that Massimo Osti was a genius. From his military inspiration, to his garment dyeing processes. How does the brand continue to blossom the way it has?

Enrico: That’s an interesting question. A lot of that relates closely to how the archive is used. When you have a back catalogue of 20,000 products, it makes things very convenient. It gives us an opportunity to explore through the things that we have already done, see how we can make them more contemporary, and contextualise it with what’s happening at the moment. What’s more difficult is being able to get to the root of those designs. Trying to find out why it was done the way it was. Understanding why Massimo did garment dying at the time and exploring how we can develop the idea, pushing us to find new technologies to advance our efforts. This concept is deeply rooted within the DNA of C.P. Company. 

FP: With the archive being so rich in diversity. Are there any aspects of the design language you feel have stayed consistent throughout the years?

Enrico: When you go through the archive, it’s very complex. There’s many layers and designers that have come in throughout the years. The one red thread that has always been there is the approach to the fabrics. – How they were developed in each era – Massimo Ostis era was heavily influenced by the garment dying treatments, taking materials as they were and giving them a new shape by doing so. The Moreno era was all about keeping the fabrics in their rawest form. Now we have the Alessandro Pungetti and Paul Harvey era, where they are taking garment treatments to a whole new level. 

FP: I know you love the brand more than most. So this is a question for you on a personal level, do you have a favourite era of C.P. Company?

Enrico: How can I respond to that! I would say the Alessandro Pungetti and Paul Harvey era of recent years. I started working for the brand during this time and have a personal connection to the journey C.P. Company has been taking. We’ve had to approach things differently when it comes to the positioning of C.P., making it more of a contemporary brand. Activating collaborations for the first time, understanding our customer and how we engage with our community in different ways.

FP: It’s evident that the brand is having a huge boom at the moment, and some of the recent collaborations have been next level. What’s it been like for you on the marketing side of things?

Enrico: It’s always a challenge. When I joined seven and half years ago, we had a lot less resources. It was only myself and Lorenzo working on the marketing. The whole team was only around 10 people, this meant you had to do everything! It was very practical. We managed to raise the bar season after season. This then meant a growth in the brand across all departments to help cater for our successes. We’re now a team of 150 people. This brings new challenges. It’s a case of us transitioning from a smaller brand to a consolidated company. 

FP: We are here with you in the R&D centre for C.P. To build a bit of context for our readers. What exactly goes on here?

Enrico: This unit is responsible for fabric research, colour dye sampling, prototyping, and pattern making.

FP: C.P. Company are no strangers to footwear collaborations either, but one specifically we want to talk on is the recent works with ASICS. The design of the shoe is incredibly unique, could you walk us through the design features on the upper?

Enrico: When we initially started discussions with ASICS, we both tried to educate ourselves a bit more about each other’s worlds. We noticed that they have this strong ideology behind lifting the spirit and movement which we felt aligned nicely with our most recent collection, the

Metropolis series. A collection that is aimed more towards the urban consumer. The idea was to focus our attention on the urban environment, working on the graphics of a city to construct the upper. What we landed on was a more conceptual design relating to this concept. This was then finished off with the addition of the metropolis logo. 

FP: I think the GEL-QUANTUM 360 VIII is a nice merge of innovation across both brands. What about the colour ways, we got a sleak-er grey rendition and a bold yellow – which I feel caught many of us by surprise?

Enrico: I’m glad it did! We wanted to connect the shoe with the existing colour pallet within the collection. Usually for the Metropolis series, we tend to have a mix of black, grey, dark navy and a pop of colour. It’s a more reserved colour pallet for C.P. knowing that we have such a wide variety across many of our styles. During the early stages we tried to incorporate yellow as an accent. We later chose to make it stand out and be tonal similarly to how it is within the collection. 

FP: ASICS as a brand truly embody their Sound mind, Sound Body ethos. What do those words mean to you personally?

Enrico: For me, as you get older you start caring a lot more about comfort. In Paris I was wearing boots to walk through the snow and after a day and half my feet were done! When I put the ASICS on it was so refreshing. I feel over the years, comfort has been a very underrated value within footwear. 

FP: Really appreciate the insight, we’re very excited for this launch! Before we let you go, is there anything else you’d like to share with us? Can be anything you like. 

Enrico: I want to give a shout to the Massimo Osti Studio project. It’s been a massive launch for us and everyone you met here has been responsible for putting it together. Being able to launch a new brand was a huge effort from the whole team. The love and attention that it brought was truly something special for us.