A long-lasting love story, from Bologna to Manchester
C.P. Company announces its multi-year partnership as Official Style Fashionwear Partner of Manchester City men’s first team from the 2024/25 season.
C.P. Company x Manchester City partnership celebrates the bond between the city of Manchester and the Italian brand, established in the ’80s through an authentic engagement with the football fandom.
The partnership represents an inclusive human exploration through the community-driven language of football. A passion that becomes a faith, a belief amongst thousands turned into a way of life, and a society gathered around a common value.
We’re pleased to announce a new partnership with C.P. Company today. Both Manchester City and the Italian brand play a key role in football culture in the UK and beyond, with passionate followers and a shared commitment to embracing new trends and innovation. We’re looking forward to working with C.P. Company over the coming seasons.
— Kaitlyn Beale, Vice President Global Partnership Sales at City Football Group
Our partnership represents an exciting journey from Bologna to Manchester, where two visions, inspired by the same values, harmoniously merge. The aesthetic symbolism of the C.P. Company Goggle Jacket has become an icon for football fans, a project where sporting aspiration embraces and keeps its roots alive.
— Lorenzo Osti, President of C.P. Company
Football is the common thread between sportswear and casual culture, where passion for sport and Italian design is passed down from generation to generation. It is a catalyst where the concepts of family, community, and culture merge, extending beyond the playing field. Inherited throughout the ages, the stadium acts as a bridge between the past and the future. Traditions, habits, and rituals evolve in form while remaining anchored to their roots.
“Back in the place where I belong, singing songs about where I’m from, and things I never dreamed I’d see, like matches, made in heaven City & C.P.” **
The union between C.P. Company and Manchester City narrates the evolution of identitarian symbols in football aesthetics, like the Goggle Jacket, adopted by English fans since the ’80s. Launched in 1988, the Goggle Jacket is C.P. Company’s most iconic and recognizable garment, a staple of functionality and design uniqueness thanks to the integrated lenses in the hood.
Far from its birthplace in Bologna, the Jacket has captured the soul and spirit of the Mancunians, becoming a tangible expression of belonging to the local football community. A universal language told through the lives and stories of those who see the stands as their home.
Designed by C.P. Company, the line, which includes a customised version of the Goggle Jacket featuring co-branded lenses, will be worn by Manchester City’s men’s first team players, coaching staff and executive management, when travelling to and arriving at the stadium on away match days in the UEFA Champions League along with several other matches. A perfect combination of functionality and versatility, the range offers elegant and tailored shapes. All garments are reworked in the signature colors of C.P. Company (Navy Blue) and Manchester City (Light Blue).
Despite the 1,750 kilometres separating Bologna and Manchester, both cities resonate with the same indomitable spirit. United by a rich industrial heritage and a deep connection to music, they represent the dreams and aspirations of entire generations. Together, they celebrate the past while looking to the future, embodying a perfect fusion of history, subculture, and passion. The shared legacy of the Goggle Jacket and casual culture seamlessly links these two vibrant cities, creating a narrative that transcends geography and connects the global community of football fans.
“If you had to pick your first love, then what would it be? King Colin, Phil Foden or your first piece of C.P.?” **
Over the course of the partnership, C.P. Company will also support the City in the Community Healthy Goals programme, which sees the renovation of three community and school pitches.
C.P. Company
www.cpcompany.com | @cpcompany
In 1971 Massimo Osti, a young graphic designer from Bologna who would go on to be recognized as the “godfather of urban sportswear,” founded the brand Chester Perry, famous for its screen-printed t-shirts. In 1978 he changed the name in C.P. Company. This drier, more mature name inaugurated one of the most explosive and influential bursts of creativity in the history of sportswear.
Over the last decades the brand has continued to pioneer a connoisseurial hybrid style that combines the functionality of vintage military, work and sportswear with intense fabric research and innovation, heightened by using garment dyeing, a technique which C.P. Company was the first brand in the world to pioneer in the mid- 1970s. This hybridization of functional menswear and Italian fabric innovation is the origin of C.P. Company and still today remains the basis of every piece of clothing to carry the C.P. Company label.
**Quotes taken from John Joseph Holt’s poem, featured in the partnership launch video. The members of the C.P. Company and Manchester City communities involved in the video wear vintage items from their personal archives. Watch the full video here.
All images courtesy of C.P. Company.
Tags: authentic, Bologna, C.P. Company, clothing, collaborations, Community, culture, design, durable, fabric innovation, family, fashion, fashion brands, fashion design, football, garment construction, garments, goggle jacket, iconic designs, Italian design, Italian-made, Italy, jackets, Manchester City, menswear, outdoor, outdoor lifestyle, outerwear, partnership, sports, sportswear, Top, United Kingdom, water-repellent, waterproof
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