Massimo Osti (1944–2005) was an Italian garment engineer and fashion designer, most famous as the founder of the apparel brands Stone Island and C.P.
Osti's products were a mix of his own innovations and design ideas he got from studying military clothing, work-wear, and sportswear.
[5] The rubber made the materials waterproof, improved their resistance and added a totally new look and feel to the garments.
In collaboration with ITS, Osti employed state-of-the-art technological research to create this new fabric which changed color by temperature variations.
Company store in New York's historical Flatiron Building, plus the launch of yet another iconic garment within the Stone Island line: the Reflective Jacket.
The material combined waterproof fabric with a very thin layer of glass microspheres, which reflected even the weakest light sources with astonishing effectiveness.
[2] This new brand was characterized by another exclusive material, a non-woven fabric made from pressed polyester and nylon fibers which, like felt, could be used with raw edge stitching.
In 1995, the ST 95 line was launched and in 1996, Osti began a collaboration with Superga, which consisted in designing a collection of image-defining garments.
Just two years later in 1998, a new company was founded to produce and distribute the OM Project brand, the collaboration with the Frattini Group.
Of the technical materials used in this collection, a special blend of Kevlar stood out in particular; its increased softness and functionality made it appropriate to its application in garment production.
At the age of 25, Osti was in close contact with the social and artistic movements of the time and profoundly aware of the changes taking place in society.
At the time of his first forays into the world of fashion, Osti's background in advertising led him to use his graphics know-how as a starting point for tackling his first challenges.
This is the basis of garment dyeing, a process that revolutionized the entire industry at the time, both because of the unusual look it produced and because of the significant decrease in costs it represented.
Osti took this special process, which was originally used on cotton, and experimented with it on wool until he refined the procedure through research and adapted it specifically to this noble fiber, revolutionizing the industry.
They took noble and traditional fabrics like linen and wool and granted them a new look and texture, allowing them to drape and fall differently.
The special rubber coating not only enhanced their natural characteristics but also granted increased functionality, such as resistance to water and allows them to remain adaptable to patterns.
A jacket made of a revolutionary material that changes color with temperature variations due to its special chemical composition.
Key-item: First ICE Jacket 1987 This fabric was first presented in the LEFT HAND collection and is made of pressed microfiber and nylon fibers.