What do Chester Barry and Fred Perry have in common? Massimo Osti. In 1971, he merged the two names to form Chester Perry — a title deliberately concocted, to bred a familiarity that was distinctive. It carried an intimacy and trust, the kind that didn’t require explanation. This instinct defined Osti’s work: an understanding of people and a refusal to impose ideas for their own sake. Instead, he offered solutions that felt considered, and human.
Defining C.P. Company: “To The Point”
Legal disputes in 1978 forced a change, and from that constraint came clarity. C.P. Company — “to the point,” as Osti described it. The name reflected the work. Direct, purposeful, and quietly radical.
Revolutionising Fabric: Garment Dyeing at C.P. Company
That clarity extended into process. Osti revolutionised textile treatment through the garment dyeing process, where fully constructed garments made from raw materials are dyed only at the final stage. The result was depth of colour and warmth — clothing that felt vulnerable from the outset, yet designed to evolve with wear.
The C.P. Company Jacket as Cultural Uniform
Part designer, part anthropologist, Osti drew inspiration from travel, vintage clothing, and his ever-growing archive. These garments became subjects of study; dissected, reassembled, and reimagined. Function was never secondary to form, as to Osti, the two were inseparable.
Utility Elevated Through Innovation
With a long documented affinity for military and workwear — valued for its utility and honesty — Osti developed a design language unique to C.P. Company. Details were exchanged, adapted, and refined between samples. As Errolson Hugh, co-founder of Acronym, noted after working with the Massimo Osti Studio in the late 1990s: “C.P. is about the mastery of many details, of an extensive vocabulary of materials, techniques, treatments, and design ideas.”
The Future of C.P. Company
C.P.'s design language has gone on to inform the contemporary man's choice in outerwear, whether they know it or not. Workwear was never as desirable as it came to be after C.P.’s adaptation, instead of shying away from what it denotes to be in a uniform. Osti chose to celebrate that with C.P., giving it a luxe treatment – garment dyes, special fabrics, modular pieces that glorify the work. Pieces primed for the patina because the wear is inevitable, Osti made sure that the garments could tell the wearer's story, unique to them.
For C.P. Company, the archive is not a destination but a foundation. Osti proposed a present that was always moving forward — one where history exists only to serve what comes next.
C.P. Company & The Legacy Behind The Jacket
