Borsalino & Co.
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Borsalino is the oldest Italian company specializing in the manufacture of luxury hats. Since 1857, the manufacture has been based in
Alessandria Alessandria (; pms, Lissandria ) is a city and ''comune'' in Piedmont, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Alessandria. The city is sited on the alluvial plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, about east of Turin. Alessandria ...
, Piedmont. The founder, Giuseppe Borsalino, is remembered for creating a particular model of felt hat characterized by the registered trademark Borsalino.


History

On 4 April 1857,
Giuseppe Borsalino Borsalino is the oldest Italian company specializing in the manufacture of luxury hats. Since 1857, the manufacture has been based in Alessandria, Piedmont. The founder, Giuseppe Borsalino, is remembered for creating a particular model of felt ...
started a workshop in Alessandria that specialized in the production of felt hats. The workshop eventually grew to industrial production, and in 1888 the company moved to a new factory designed by Arnaldo Gardella, located on Corso Cento Cannoni, Alessandria. In these years Borsalino produced 2,500 hats a day, but when the company won the Grand Prix, an important quality certificate, at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1900, spread the brand's fame globally. The succession of Giuseppe Borsalino was complicated: the designated heir, Teresio Borsalino, was opposed to his cousin Giovanni Borsalino, son of Lazzaro, who inaugurated a new hat factory using the family name. Between Borsalino Antica Casa and Borsalino Fu Lazzaro were years of hard commercial battles but in the end the Teresio came out and the name Borsalino became one again. On the eve of the First World War Borsalino produced about 2,000,000 hats annually. The manufacture employed over 2,500 employees, representing a significant resource in the economy of the Piedmontese city. Abroad, the brand spread everywhere, conquering the most important markets: the British, but especially the US, where the hats produced in Alessandria were adopted by the Hollywood starsystem. The downsizing of the company occurred in 1950 in conjunction with the beginning of the fall into disuse of formal hats: Borsalino is thus transformed from mass product into a cult object. In 1987 the hat factory moved from the historic center in Alessandria to the current one of Spinetta Marengo, in the suburbs of the city, and the president Vittorio Vaccarino, the last descendant of the Borsalino family, sold the company to a group of Milanese entrepreneurs. In the nineties the company changed ownership several times to be finally bought by the entrepreneur Marco Marenco, involved in a €3.5 billion financial crack. On 18 December 2017 the Court of Alessandria declared the bankruptcy of Borsalino Giuseppe and Fratello Spa. Haeres Equita, a private equity fund which manages the brand's activities since 2016, confirms the will to continue the production, the distribution and the promoting activities of the forthcoming collections, keeping all employments and maintaining the production site in Alessandria (Piedmont). In 2017, on the occasion of the 160th anniversary of the company, the Italian Ministry of Economic Development recognized Borsalino as one of the 'Excellencies of the production system', dedicating it a stamp worth €0.95. On 12 July 2018, the company was sold in a
court auction Court auction is an auction which takes place at a public location designated by the court. If a property owner fails to pay the mortgage, the mortgage holder can foreclose on that property. If the owner is unable to make sufficient payments, the ...
for 6.4 million euros ($7.4 million) to Haeres Equita.


Production

Borsalino manufacturing has remained faithful to a production process that represents the cultural values of the company, handed down from generation to generation. The hats continue to be produced in Alessandria by combining industrial technology and the spirit craftsmanship. The felt models, created from fur fibers, require more than 50 manual steps and seven weeks of work to create; the straw models, which are hand twisted, can take up to 6 months for a single hat.


Borsalino and Alessandria

The Borsalino business dynasty has made an important contribution to the city of Alessandria, building the aqueduct, the sewerage network, hospital, sanatorium and retirement home. The historic headquarters of the company, currently located in Corso 100 Cannoni, now hosts the
University of Eastern Piedmont The University of Eastern Piedmont "Amedeo Avogadro" ( it, Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale "Amedeo Avogadro"; shortened to UNIPMN or UPO) is a university located in Alessandria, Novara and Vercelli, in the region of Piedmont, Ital ...
Amedeo Avogadro and the Borsalino Hat Museum. In 2016, independent film director Enrica Viola dedicated a documentary to the relationship between Borsalino and Alessandria: Borsalino City was presented at film festivals in Turin, Barcelona and Melbourne.


The Borsalino Hat Museum

In the spring of 2006, the Borsalino Hat Museum opened in the company's historical headquarters in Corso 100 Cannoni, Alessandria. A joint initiative by Alessandria town council and the Borsalino company, the museum covers an exhibition area of 400 m2 and houses about two thousand hats, displayed in the historic Chippendale style cabinets made in the 1920s by Arnaldo Gardella for the factory sample room. In 2018, the museum is planning to move to a larger venue with a completely renovated exhibition.


In Orthodox Jewish communities

Among Orthodox Jewish men and boys, covering the head is an identifier of religiousity. Many men in strictly Orthodox Jewish communities wear a black, wide-brimmed Borsalino hat. See .


In popular culture


Borsalino and art

The relationship between Borsalino and the art world has ancient origins. Since the birth of advertising in Italy, at the turn of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Borsalino has entrusted the realization of its posters to the most important artists of the time. This privileged relationship with art has been confirmed over time and has led the company to collaborate with Cesare Simonetti, Giorgio Muggiani, Giovanni Dradi, Franz Laskoff, Marcello Dudovich, winner in 1910 of a competition organized by Borsalino to publicize the Zenit hat, Giuseppe Minonzio,
Gino Boccasile Gino Boccasile (14 July 1901 – 10 May 1952) was an Italian illustrator. Born in Bari, Boccasile was the son of a perfumer. Early in his youth, he lost his left eye by having it struck by a splash of quicklime while he was drinking from a fo ...
, Luigi Bompard, Jeanne Grignani,
Luigi Veronesi Luigi Veronesi (28 May 1908 – 25 February 1998) was an Italian photographer, painter, scenographer and film director born in Milan. Early career Luigi Veronesi trained as textile designer in the 1920s and by practised photography. He was ...
, Max Huber and
Armando Testa Armando Testa 1971. Armando Testa (23 March 1917 – 20 March 1992) was an Italian graphic designer, cartoonist, animator and painter. Born in Turin, Testa worked as a typesetter until 20 years old."Armando Testa" in ''Communication Arts'', V ...
. Today the antique Borsalino advertising posters are collector items that have been beaten in the most important auction houses in the world.


Borsalino and theatre

In Arthur Miller's play ''The Price'', character Solomon regrets that his hat is not a Borsalino, in spite of looking so.


Borsalino and cinema

Borsalino has a long-running and special bond with the film industry. One picture stands out above all:
Humphrey Bogart Humphrey DeForest Bogart (; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American film and stage actor. His performances in Classical Hollywood cinema films made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film In ...
and
Ingrid Bergman Ingrid Bergman (29 August 191529 August 1982) was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films, television movies, and plays.Obituary ''Variety'', 1 September 1982. With a career spanning five decades, she is often ...
in the unforgettable final scene of ''
Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...
''. The relationship with the cinema was destined to last: in addition to Bogart and Bergman in Casablanca,
Marcello Mastroianni Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni (28 September 1924 – 19 December 1996) was an Italian film actor, regarded as one of his country's most iconic male performers of the 20th century. He played leading roles for many of Italy's top di ...
in ''
8 ½ 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...
'' and
Jean Paul Belmondo Jean-Paul Charles Belmondo (; 9 April 19336 September 2021) was a French actor and producer. Initially associated with the New Wave of the 1960s, he was a major French film star for several decades from the 1960s onward. His best known credits ...
in ''
Breathless Breathless may refer to: Aircraft *Paradelta Breathless, an Italian paraglider design Film and television * Breathless (1960 film), ''Breathless'' (1960 film) (''À bout de souffle''), a French film directed by Jean-Luc Godard * Breathless (1982 ...
'' both wore a Borsalino. Above all, the Alessandria factory granted the use of its name to two cult films of the 1970s: '' Borsalino'' and '' Borsalino & Co.''. The idea was
Alain Delon Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon (; born 8 November 1935) is a French actor and filmmaker. He was one of Europe's most prominent actors and screen sex symbols in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. In 1985, he won the César Award for Best Actor for h ...
's, and Borsalino accepted on the condition that the company logo would appear on the posters. The Italian company was the first luxury brand to give its name to two films. Even
Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...
in '' Once Upon a Time in America'' (1984) wears Borsalino hats. In 2011, the
Triennale Design Museum The Triennale di Milano is a design and art museum in the Parco Sempione in Milan, in Lombardy in northern Italy. It is housed in the Palazzo dell'Arte, which was designed by Giovanni Muzio and built between 1931 and 1933; construction was fi ...
in Milan hosted an exhibition entitled "Il cinema con il cappello. Borsalino e altre storie". The actor
Toni Servillo Marco Antonio Servillo (), known as Toni Servillo, is an Italian actor and theatrical director. He has won the European Film Award for Best Actor twice, in 2008 for both '' Gomorrah'' and ''Il Divo'' and in 2013 for ''The Great Beauty'', as well ...
wears a Borsalino in the film '' The Great Beauty'', which won
Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
at the
86th Academy Awards The 86th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2013 and took place on March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. ...
. In 2018, Borsalino celebrates its deep and lasting relationship with the world of cinema by introducing The Bogart by Borsalino, a special collection dedicated to Humphrey Bogart, the great Hollywood actor. The hats collection is created in collaboration with Humphrey Bogart Estate.


Borsalino and design

In 2009, Borsalino was included by the Triennale Design Museum in Milan among quintessential Italian icons in the 'Serie Fuori Serie' exhibition. The exhibition was replicated in March 2017 at the National Museum of China in Beijing. The Chapeau Lamp (2014) designed by
Philippe Starck Philippe Starck (; born 18 January 1949) is a French industrial architect and designer known for his wide range of designs, including interior design, architecture, household objects, furniture, boats and other vehicles. Life Starck was born on ...
for Flos and the sculpture The Hatband(2016) by
Moritz Waldemeyer Moritz Waldemeyer (born 1974) is a British/German designer and engineer. He trained as an engineer at King's College London and completed his master's degree in 2001. Since then, he has collaborated with many of the world’s top architects and ...
are both tributes to Borsalino.


Borsalino and fashion

Borsalino has been collaborating with some of the most important names in the fashion system since the beginning of the millennium. These have led to the creation of capsule collections with
Nick Fouquet Nick Fouquet (February 17, 1983) is a French-American fashion designer, and founder of the eponymous brand ''Nick Fouquet''. Biography Nick Fouquet was born on February 17, 1983, in New York City to Bernard Fouquet and Lavinia Baker. He is one ...
, Tom Ford, Gianni Versace, Krizia, Valentino,
Moschino Moschino () is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1983 by Franco Moschino in Milan known for over-the-top, campy designs. The company specializes in ready-to-wear, handbags, and fashion accessories. History Founding and 1990s Franco Mosc ...
, Yohji Yamamoto,
Marni The name Marni originates from several languages, including Hebrew, meaning "rejoice", and Latin as a variant of " Marina", meaning "of the sea". It also has derivations from Gaelic and Swahili. "Marni" and "Marnie" are the two most common spell ...
, Gianfranco Ferré,
Rochas Rochas is a fashion, beauty, and perfume house founded in 1925 by French designer Marcel Rochas, the first designer of 2/3-length coats and skirts with pockets and one of the two designers, along with Elsa Schiaparelli, who launched the fashion fo ...
,
Italia Independent Italia Independent Group S.p.A. is a holding corporation for an Italian company that produces and distributes eyewear and sunglasses. History The brand Italia Independent was founded in 2007 by Lapo Elkann, Andrea Tessitore and Giovanni Acc ...
and DSquared.


See also

*
Fedora A fedora () is a hat with a soft brim and indented crown.Kilgour, Ruth Edwards (1958). ''A Pageant of Hats Ancient and Modern''. R. M. McBride Company. It is typically creased lengthwise down the crown and "pinched" near the front on both sides ...
* Boss of the Plains * Homburg (hat) * Pork pie hat *
Stetson Stetson is a brand of hat manufactured by the John B. Stetson Company. "Stetson" is also used as a generic trademark to refer to any campaign hat, in particular, in Scouting. John B. Stetson gained inspiration for his most famous hats when he ...
* Trench coat * Trilby *
Tyrolean hat The Tyrolean hat (german: Tirolerhut, it, cappello alpino), also Bavarian hat or Alpine hat, is a type of headwear that originally came from the Tyrol in the Alps, in what is now part of Austria, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. It is an essenti ...
*
List of headgear This is an incomplete list of headgear (anything worn on the head), both modern and historical. Hats File:Akubra-style hat.jpg, Akubra File:98-5-E Helmet, Flight, U.S. Army Air Corps, Type A-II (5123665596).jpg, Leather flight helmet File:Balm ...
* Cap


References


External links


Borsalino website
{{Authority control Hat companies Clothing brands of Italy Clothing companies established in 1857 Italian companies established in 1857 High fashion brands Luxury brands Haute couture Alessandria fr:Borsalino (chapeau)