As part of its 50th anniversary celebrations, C.P. Company presents ‘Cinquanta’, an extensive retrospective in Darwen, Lancashire, from 1st -10th October 2021, as part of the British Textile Biennial.
Darwen is the birthplace of professional football, and the north west of England has particularly strong ties with C.P. Company through the subculture and fashions that surround the sport. This Italian brand has been a staple label of British football supporters, adopted by working class youths for decades as well as new generations discovering the legacy of C.P. Company, allowing its popularity to thrive.
A major part of the 2021 British Textile Biennial programme, the ‘Cinquanta’ exhibition presents this retrospective dedicated to five decades of Italian sports and casual wear. The display will feature exclusive C.P. Company archive pieces from the label’s illustrious history in a repurposed basement car park space in the centre of Darwen in Lancashire. A programme of activities will run alongside this exhibition, including an education programme of student workshops alongside panel discussions with speakers from the brand and other respected names in sportswear and men’s fashion.
The strong bond with football culture and the north of the U.K., has given life to this new C.P. Company Cinquanta chapter: the adidas Spezial x C.P. Company collaboration. It will be revealed exclusively at the Darwen exhibition – an ideal and appropriate location given the town’s connection with adidas Spezial and its design team.
British Textile Biennial celebrates and examines the global role that Lancashire played in the history of textiles and its contemporary legacy that plays a part in defining its future prosperity. Darwen to this day has a strong connection to Italy with a vibrant Italian community, many of whose ancestors originally came to the town to work in its once booming textile industry. Holding a prestigious event like this in a post-industrial mill town like Darwen is an unexpected, bold and unique statement for C.P. Company: going beyond the major cities to support an area of the UK that has loyally contributed to the legacy of the brand.
To add to its cultural connection, the first weekend of the ‘Cinquanta’ exhibition will coincide with Darwen Live – the biggest free to attend music festival in the U.K. that is run by volunteers from the local community and is a hub that drives the town’s local music bars.
The ‘Cinquanta’ exhibition will partner with local youth homelessness charity Nightsafe to help raise funds for their new hostel in Darwen – giving a deeper purpose to this project and further demonstrating that C.P. Company understand the importance of giving something back.
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