BORSALINO

At the age of 23, Giuseppe Borsalino establishes an atelier in Alessandria specialized in the production of felt hats. It is a small artisanal business with the direct involvement of Giuseppe and his older brother Lazzaro. According to chronicles, on April 4, 1857, the first Borsalino hat is crafted. In 1868, Borsalino Giuseppe & Fratello receives the first-class medal at the Turin Exhibition, the first of a long series of recognitions attesting to the extraordinary quality standards achieved at the Alessandria atelier. From the initial five models produced by Borsalino in the early years of operation, the business expands to a wide range of hats, allowing it to distinguish itself in Italy and international markets. The exploration of new hat designs becomes an obsession for Giuseppe Borsalino. The most significant outcome of this pursuit is the creation of a soft felt hat with front dimples and crown folding that combines elegance and functionality. This model is destined to revolutionize the 20th-century codes of men's clothing. In 1900, Borsalino receives the Grand Prix at the Paris Universal Exhibition, the most prestigious recognition at the beginning of the century for a company. The award attests to the progress made by the House of Alessandria, which, according to the jury's evaluation, "distinguishes itself for the quality of its felts and the refined craftsmanship of its hats." The fame of the Borsalino brand spreads throughout the world as a result. Starting from 1920, the company begins producing elegant straw models, followed ten years later by its first women's creations. Thanks to Hollywood, the Dream Factory, from the 1930s onwards, Borsalino hats become objects of global cult. Particularly in film noir, they are adopted as distinctive elements and stylistic synthesis to characterize specific types of characters. What unites gangsters, policemen, and private investigators is the Borsalino, whose shadow enhances the enigmatic nature of their faces. Borsalino leaves its historic manufacture in the center of Alessandria to relocate to the artisanal area of the city, where the precious machinery that perpetuates the company's production philosophy finds space. In 1987, the last heirs of the founder Giuseppe Borsalino sell the hat factory to a group of Italian investors: it marks the end of an era. Over the years, the hat gradually loses its status as a male accessory contributing to the construction of a collective consciousness to become a tool of individual expression, equally loved by men and women. Borsalino projects itself into the new millennium with a new, fascinating, and eclectic ideal of beauty, constructed by reinterpreting past aesthetic codes in constant dialogue with the languages of fashion. In 2018, Haeres Equita, a fund led by entrepreneur Philippe Camperio, acquires Borsalino with the aim of growing it in the luxury artisanal market segment. On April 4, 2023, in the historic building that housed the hat manufacture from 1888 to 1984, the new Borsalino Museum is inaugurated. Born from collaboration between the City of Alessandria and the Borsalino Foundation, the museum preserves the memory and inspires the future of an Italian pioneer of Made in Italy, which with its hats, has conquered the world.