Here, Bologna brings together two stories that might otherwise have remained separate. In 1971, C.P. Company was founded there by Massimo Osti. In 1997, Roberto Baggio wrote a defining chapter of his career there. The brand’s Fall/Winter 2026 campaign brings these two paths together, but its appeal lies in the setting chosen for their meeting: the archives. There, the soccer player reunites with Lorenzo Osti, son of the founder and current president of C.P. Company. Between them lie garments, documents, and notes. Enough to shift our perspective: beyond a player’s fame or a brand’s recognition, what remains of the work that shaped them?
Bologna: A Connection That Goes Beyond Casting
Pairing a soccer icon with a sportswear brand seems like a no-brainer. But the partnership still needs to tell a story. With Baggio, C.P. Company has a specific anchor: this city that is part of both their journeys. Bologna provides a geographical context for the campaign. It ensures the partnership isn’t based solely on the champion’s fame or on a vague connection between sports and clothing.
The two dates are distinct. The brand’s founding in 1971 predates Baggio’s time in Bologna in 1997 by a wide margin. It is precisely this time gap that gives the narrative its depth. The aim is not to fabricate a shared past, but to reveal a point of intersection between two independent timelines. The city serves as a shared point of reference, not a common origin.
This distinction matters. The career of the player, a native of the Vicenza region, and that of the company born from Massimo Osti’s vision each retain their own distinct character. The campaign invites us to view them together, without claiming that soccer and textile design follow the same rules. Their connection lies elsewhere: in the perseverance required to act on an intuition, and in the relationship maintained with what came before.
The Archive as a Workplace
The choice of the archives is the most interesting aspect of this campaign. Baggio moves among the pieces and written records that document more than fifty years of design at C.P. Company. Clothing, therefore, does not appear there solely in its finished form. The documents and notes surrounding it serve as a reminder that it is the result of a process. They lend depth to the product—a history that begins before it is revealed to the eye.
In this setting, the brand’s memory takes on a tangible form. It is rooted in preserved objects—elements that can be brought together and discussed. The narrative gives way to conversations with Lorenzo Osti, to memories, and to observation. This approach to the archives allows for a less static interpretation of the brand’s heritage: what has been preserved still serves to fuel a conversation.
The history of C.P. Company is presented through research on textiles and a design philosophy open to diverse influences. The archives provide a coherent framework for exploring this movement. They do not, on their own, prove the value of every past proposal; rather, they make its continuity perceptible. This is a useful distinction for a fashion campaign, where historical depth can easily become nothing more than an argument from authority.
Here, the past serves primarily to provide context. It allows us to view a new season without treating it as an absolute beginning.
Roberto Baggio: More Than Just Talent
Baggio’s presence introduces another way of interpreting these traces. The player is renowned for a talent that has earned him a prominent place in the world of soccer. Yet the campaign chooses to focus on what the mere notion of natural talent tends to overshadow: discipline, repeated effort, and perseverance. It focuses on the duration of a journey rather than the brilliance of a single moment.
This shift provides the rationale for the connection with C.P. Company. On one hand, a sports career; on the other, a creative process pursued over the years. The parallel does not concern actions or results—which are obviously different—but rather the work required to keep going. The brand thus draws a connection between the player’s high standards and the consistency of its own creative exploration.
Baggio’s reflection on the need to see one’s journey through to the end accompanies the project. Without turning it into a universal formula, we can see in it the key to this collaboration: certain things only make sense in hindsight. This is precisely what the archival framework allows. The stages cease to be isolated; they become parts of a story that we can finally embrace.
The risk would be to reduce the champion to a lesson in willpower. Fortunately, his presence among the garments brings the narrative back to a simpler situation: a man discovers, observes, and exchanges ideas with the person who now carries on the house’s legacy.
Lorenzo Osti: The Embodiment of Continuity
Lorenzo Osti occupies a special place in this narrative. As president of C.P. Company, he is also the son of Massimo Osti. His presence thus brings together two relationships with the brand—one professional, the other familial. Standing opposite Baggio, he guides the discovery of a history of which he himself is a continuation. This transmission doesn’t need to be illustrated by any additional symbol—it is already inherent in this encounter.
It would be simplistic, however, to reduce this legacy to a matter of lineage. What is passed down, in the narrative presented here, is also a way of approaching clothing: through textile research, through design, and through an attention to worlds beyond one’s own. The challenge lies in maintaining this approach to work, rather than merely preserving the visible signs of the past.
The conversation with Baggio thus opens the archives to a perspective from outside. The soccer player does not belong to the lineage of C.P. Company; his background allows him to engage with certain of its principles without becoming indistinguishable from it. It is this distance that makes the exchange so compelling. A brand’s history becomes clearer when it can be discussed with someone who is not its custodian.
A collection set against its own history
The campaign remains focused on a single season: Fall/Winter 2026. Baggio wears the new collection amidst the archives, and this coexistence shapes the entire narrative. The current garments are viewed alongside the traces of their predecessors. The present does not erase what made it possible; it opens itself up to comparison.
This approach is more demanding than a simple celebration of heritage. Invoking fifty years of history is not enough to explain a collection. On the other hand, placing the collection within the archives invites us to explore what it builds upon, what it shifts, and how it fits into a broader narrative. The campaign provides a framework for interpretation rather than a catalog of new releases.
This is where Baggio’s choice finds its editorial merit. The champion catches the eye, but his encounter with Lorenzo Osti directs attention toward the garments and their history. Between the preserved pieces and those he wears for Fall/Winter 2026, one very concrete question remains: what do we choose to carry forward into the next season?