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Working alongside the film and art world, iconic Italian brand Borsalino, founded in 1888 in Alessandria, Italy, continues to be known for its high-quality, beautifully handcrafted hats.
From film heroes, young bright things to chic men and women the world over, Borsalino has been furnishing heads with fabulous hats for centuries, all of which are fashioned by skilled artisans in Alessandria, Italy.
Coming to the Borsalino Boutique in Alessandria means opening a trove of exquisitely crafted hats, where each one represents not only the hand of a skilled artisan, but also a unique piece of headwear that deserves to be looked after and treasured – tellingly each hat comes with precise rituals that are needed to keep the hat in optimum condition. Other tokens of luxury come in the form of silk liners, gold engraved Borsalino logos and high-quality materials – felt, fur and brushed silk. Choose between trilbies and fedoras, rollable hats and Panama hats, to caps, berets and beanies in between.
Proudly known as the oldest hat maker in Italy, Giuseppe Borsalino created the brand in 1888, in the northern Italian town of Alessandria. By 1900, the hat-makers were quickly gaining European fame, and the high quality of their headdresses won Borsalino a Grand Prix at the Paris Exposition Universelle. Merging with the art world, the brand collaborated with influential artists such as Marcello Dudovich, Giorgio Muggiani, Max Huber and Armando Testa to create timeless and unusual advertising campaigns showing the breadth of their cultural standing.
With the Borsalino Boutique opening in 1925, the hats showcased in Hollywood atop the stars of Casablanca and later in the film Breathless and even took the title of a French gangster film in the 50s called – you guessed it - Borsalino. By this time there was no doubt that Borsalino was an icon of Italian design, and with Panama hats added to the range, the brand even had an Italian stamp commemorated to it in 2017.
The classic scene at the end of Casablanca with Bergmann and Bogart wearing Borsalino hats gave Italian hat-makers cult status and marked the first of many film appearances.
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