KA-YO — Italian Engineering / Material Research
C.P. Company, Engineered
In conversation with David Hellqvist
Shells, membranes, layers built to perform: technical garments have always been at the heart of KA-YO. But almost every technical jacket on our rails owes something to a man most people have never heard of.
In 1971, in Bologna, Massimo Osti founded the brand that would become C.P. Company. A graphic designer by training, he approached clothing like an engineer: collecting military and workwear, testing fabrics, dyeing finished garments and building function into form. Long before “technical” was a category, he was doing the work.
To introduce C.P. Company at KA-YO, we sat down with London-based writer and creative director David Hellqvist, founder of Document Studios, to talk about Osti, the laboratory he built, and why his blueprint still matters.
C.P. Company
01 — The Man
“Osti was researching as opposed to sketching.”
Who is Massimo Osti, for somebody who has never heard his name?
Massimo Osti is the founder of two of the most influential brands in premium sportswear, C.P. Company and Stone Island. As such, he laid the foundation for the technical outerwear that’s so prevalent today.
Why is he so influential, yet so rarely known by name?
He’s partly unknown to the general public because he was a garment engineer, as opposed to a fashion designer. And he lived and worked in Bologna, as opposed to fashion designers like Armani, Versace and Missoni, who were all in Milan.
Osti came from graphic design and screen printing, not tailoring. How did that shape the way he approached garments?
Osti’s background in graphic design meant he took the approach of an engineer or inventor, rather than a traditional designer or tailor.
Osti built a vast archive of military and workwear garments and fabric samples. Why was the archive so central to his process?
Osti was researching as opposed to sketching. He was literally tracing the foundations of classic menswear, and then making them modern and contemporary.
02 — The Laboratory
“Nothing exists on these pieces without filling a purpose and doing a job.”
C.P. Company began in Bologna in the early 1970s. What was Osti trying to do that nobody else was doing?
C.P. Company was his first brand – his first attempt to translate that research into actual ideas. Real clothes.
Explain garment dyeing simply.
Until C.P. Company, brands dyed the fabric first, before making the garment. Osti dyed the entire piece after its production, even if it was made up of different fabrics. This then gave it a unique depth, character and texture.
Tell us the story of the 1988 Mille Miglia jacket.
The first goggle jacket was designed by Osti in 1988 for the Mille Miglia vintage car race. The idea was that the goggles would offer eye protection in the open-top cars, and the lens was put into the sleeve as a viewfinder, so the driver could look at his watch.
What did Osti take from military and workwear?
Military uniforms and durable workwear are the A to Z of any Osti brand. Both these types of clothes are all about function and purpose. Nothing exists on these pieces without filling a purpose and doing a job. Osti distilled that into C.P. Company, and that has been the hallmark of technical menswear ever since.
04 — Material. Form. Function.
“Function comes first, then material, and lastly form.”
When you pick up a C.P. Company garment, what do you look for first?
Feel the fabric. The texture – even more so if you close your eyes – will tell you so much more about the possibilities of the garment.
Describe a detail most people miss.
One of the most recognisable elements of a C.P. jacket is, of course, the goggles, or the viewfinder, which originally was put on the sleeve of a C.P. jacket so that the wearer could see his watch.
What does it mean to treat a jacket as an engineered object rather than fashion?
An engineer builds an object with a purpose and an objective. Purpose is functionality, and the objective is longevity. Fashion is about the opposite.
Material, form or function: which came first for C.P. Company?
Function comes first, then material, and lastly form.
05 — The Blueprint
“There is no tomorrow without today, and no today without yesterday.”
Where do you see Osti’s thinking in technical wear today?
You can see Osti’s and C.P.’s legacy in most modern and contemporary brands today. We expect our clothes to do something, not just look good.
What has changed since Osti’s time, and what hasn’t?
Technology has changed. Imagine what kind of garments Osti would be producing with today’s technology. What hasn’t changed is our need for protection. If anything, clothing as a shell is more important now than ever.
Why does this history still matter to somebody buying a jacket in 2026?
The Osti blueprint is still the foundation for any contemporary wardrobe. There is no tomorrow without today, and no today without yesterday.
If you had to describe Osti and C.P. Company’s legacy in one sentence, what would it be?
Osti’s legacy through C.P. is fabric innovation: to always push forward, exploring new ways to improve clothes and, as an extension, our lives.
