18 Jan. 2013

Interview: C.P.'s Alessandro Pungetti and Paul Harvey

CP Company, which is owned FGF Industry SpA, brought onboard a new design team in November last year– Alessandro Pungetti and Paul Harvey. The duo also designs for TEN C, another FGF- owned brand. We caught up with the pair during London Collections:Men to find out what they have in store for C.P. Company, and what characterize their first collection.

What creative measures have you taken since stepping in to co-design C.P. Company?
Paul Harvey: There’s a definite crossover going on; I’m British and Pungetti is Italian, meaning that influences from both countries come through. We’ve worked an awful long time together- before being re-appointed last year, Allesandro worked for C.P. Company for 9 years, while I worked for sister company Stone Island for 13 years. We know the brand story from A to Z, and we’ve worked hard to bring the company up to speed. But whatever we do, we carefully adhere to C.P. Company’s DNA; there is a very clear concept behind the brand and we’ve endeavoured to bring it back to what it was when it launched back in the 1980s. The core approach is to take very traditional Anglo/American sportswear and making it in Italy using a series of very innovative fabrics and techniques that simply aren’t used in England or America. And then we’ve asked ourselves what is truly contemporary and what feels right to do now.

What results have you achieved so far, and which are the highlights of the F/W 13 collection?
Allesandro Pungetti: Every material we’ve used this season is innovative, and there’s a definite crossover which materialises in the fusion of natural traditional materials and modern, contemporary ones. For instance, we’ve bonded traditional Shetland wools that are made in England with high tech materials, and there’s also a multiblend fabric that appears like a lighter version of neoprene. One of the coats in the F/W13 collection is made of the wool used for college raincoats in England, and to give it modernity we’ve bonded it with a very heavy cotton. All other outerwear styles in the collection – such as puffa jackets, three button blazers and goggle jackets– demonstrate the same idea and level of innovation.

Looking ahead, how will the brand evolve, and is there any news in the pipeline?
Paul Harvey: C.P. Company has always been very innovative in the area of outerwear and this is a path we will continue to follow. In the past, the company did a bit of “this and that”, but from now on there will be only one line, simply C.P. Company, with a very definite approach.