Tracking and discovering great mass phenomen while remaining faithful to its own philosophy of research and selection, and so arriving before the others, has always been WP's prerogative. From Vans to Barbour, from workwear to streetwear, WP Lavori in Corso has always been able to identify future trends, bringing brands from America and then from the rest of the world to Italy and recognizing their potential in advance.

Over the decades, WP has sponsored countless events, at times also promoting individual artists. WP Lavori in Corso's approach to contemporary art reflects that adopted by the brands with which WP collaborates, but with the addition of a special, privileged relationship with creatives from various disciplines. Comics , photography, modern art and illustrations have been the means used to reinforce WP's advertising campaigns and communication material designed by Tanino Liberatore, Massimo Iosa Ghini, Luca Caccioni and Filippo Scozzari. From Italian comics artist Scozzari, who has worked with WP since 1980, and whose humerous cartoons featured in the first WP catalogues, to Tellas who paid tribute to the WP-Art combo with his mural on the façade of WP's historic headquarters in Bologna.

Correspond to the truth, but also to one's own interiority, with consistency. For WP, a product, a place, are authentic when they tell a true, one of a kind story. WP itself is genuine and honest. The group's mission and values have always remained the same, as well as its commitment to its customers at all stages: from research, to distribution and sale.

The city we carry in our hearts, the place where everything began with Giuseppe Calori and his daughter Cristina's idea to found WP Lavori in Corso, the first concept store, and a passion for a constant search for authenticity and innate quality . Bologna also means a cultural movement of the 80s-90s, the artists, illustrators and musicians who represented the avant-garde that revolved around WP. Working for the group's various brands, Filippo Scozzari, Massimo Iosa Ghini, Giorgio Carpinteri, Marcello Jori, Stefano Carbone and Daniele Scarpa have all contributed to the development of WP's aesthetics and communication.

The term concept store did not even exist when WP Lavori in Corso opened its first store, a cnntainer not only for products but stories, inspirations, taste, travel, art and all-round multiculturalism. WP Stores have always gone far beyond the traditional shop, being the fruit of research, products with great personality, industrial furniture, works of art, small treasures and ideas scouted around the world. They have hosted exhibitions, concerts, book presentations and installations by international artists; their walls have become the blank paper on which famous street artists have drawn murals, their shop windows have offered a space for expression to young artists, as with the “Drawings on Glass” project.

WP's relationship with photography is a constant which began when the brand decided to document travels and places of inspiration and work through images that told their story. The use of still life shots of products in the catalogues has become a well-defined signature style over the years. Hence the involvement of internationally renowned photographers from Douglas Kirkland to Larry Fink and Giovanni Cabassi in the creation of a visual storytelling of WP and the brands that have built its identity over the years. Then there are the special projects such as the presentation of American photographer Ron Galella's book, the "Claudia Cardinale - Alberto Moravia: dialogue and photographs" exhibition, "Colorealism", David LaChapelle's show-event and the Baracuta installation curated by Magnum Photos.

During the 1980s, Bologna was imbued with the ink of comic strips which had become the most malleable means of expression to recount distant worlds and characters. It was the era of avant-garde magazines Cannibale and Frigidair. Thanks to the agency A.G.O. (Alcuni Giovani Occidentali), WP began to use this language to create images and campaigns for its brands. Starting from the Woolrich catalogue illustrated by Filippo Scozzari in 1986 and that for Vans designed by Giorgio Carpinteri in the same year, WP Lavori in Corso launched a fusion of artistic disciplines that would follow the brand over the years, involving talents such as Daniele Scarpa, Gaetano Liberatore, Marcello Jori and Massimo Iosa Ghini in catalogues and special edition books to celebrate the company's anniversaries and achievements.

A motto that sums up WP Lavori in Corso's fundamental mission - to offer its customers something unique and be a compass to guide them in the search for authentic relevance and quality. Curating products that anticipate trends and often become icons and trends themselves. Research does not stop at apparel but involves an actual lifestyle that includes accessories, objects, labels, materials and spaces.

HeritageThe products selected and curated by WP Lavori in Corso are characterized by a true story, by the values embodied by the brand, a story capable of lasting over time. Unchanging, easily recognizable, but for this very reason always current, WP's heritage brands have a strong identity consolidated over time yet forward-looking, where the link with the past is not a burden, but a core value.

Much more than the company name - an ever-curious approach, an aesthetic and business model that has ensured WP decades of success and helped define the way an entire generation thinks about clothing and design.Lavori in Corso means a continuous search for beautiful and unique products, places, languages, stories and styles.

WP has its own code, a language of signs, images, music and reference which draws from different worlds in equal measures and has always defined its unique character, . Being able to combine iconic elements of great tradition with others that are totally avant-garde and innovative, WP has managed to maintain its own style of expression, a clear tone of voice, sometimes with hints of self-deprecation, and complete awareness of knowing how to choose products with great personality, making them part of the brand's language.

There is still a trumpet autographed by Chet Baker in the WP archive, a reminder of one of many jam sessions and concerts with Chet Baker, but also Michel Petrucciani, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Evgeny Kissin, The Residents and many others. The music that best interpreted its style has always accompanied the stages of the brand's research and work. Such as when WP put together a soundtrack for the "75 years of Baracuta" event at Pitti Uomo in 2012, full of elements of British music culture - Brit-rock, pop, punk, ska, Northern soul, acid jaz and soulful house, and invited artists such as DJs Norman Jay, Gilles Peterson, Eddie Piller and Dean Rudland.

With its brands, WP has often anticipated the functional,high quality and performance fashion trends that exploded in the late 1980s. From the rugged, comfortable apparel worn by American pioneers and workers to seasonal clothing. Nowadays, outdoors also means Urban for WP, the freedom to combine multiple styles together in order to fully identify with city life.

WP does not follow trends, it anticipates them and respects their boundaries. It studies them and is constantly aware of trends. It has always defined its approach as “out of fashion” not as in passé, but as in total freedom of choice. The choice to scout out and select new products that correspond to WP's specific taste, making them innovative elements so that they themselves become a trend, creating and dictating it.

The country where functional clothing for outdoor life in all seasons and in any weather condition has evolved into a style that is recognizable all over the world as typically British. From here come some of the brands and garments that have contributed most to building WP Lavori in Corso's identity. Like Barbour and Baracuta jackets, lifestyle icons and cornerstones of a casual, high-quality wardrobe, an expression of British tradition.

By mixing different genres and looks, WP Lavori in Corso has been able to change the concept of casual style, transforming the functionality of technical garments into a real urban fashion, associated with an active lifestyle, which requires apparel and accessories with classic appeal and top quality performance and innovation.

The first stage of an enthusiastic search that was then extended to other countries and continents. From WP's founders' trip to New York in 1982 to the Vans discovered in Los Angeles, from coast to coast exploring products linked to an outdoor lifestyle and with a strong American identity. A vision tied to the imagery of America.