Borsalino®

Born in 1834 in Pecetto di Valenza (Alessandria), Giuseppe Borsalino, the fifth son of a humble family, ran away from home with the desire to take action, think big, and change his destiny for the better. He learned the ropes of hat-making in Alessandria, but his curiosity and ambition led him to believe that to excel, he needed to compete with the best craftsmen of all. Therefore, in 1850, he went to Paris, where he specialized in luxury beaver fur hat manufacturing. On April 4, 1857, upon returning to Alessandria with a professional qualification, he opened a small workshop destined to conquer the world. His futurist vision and ability to innovate, paired with an impressive knowledge of production processes, continued to inspire his successors. 

The Borsalino® hat soon became a trademark of men’s elegance and a symbol of prestige and respectability in middle-class society. In time, this model has continued to inspire new, modern interpretations, and became a style icon in the fashion world, loved by men and women alike. The Borsalino^® hat has been acknowledged as one of the top expressions of Italian design by Triennale Milano (the Milan design museum). The brand’s path went hand in hand with the revolution of cinema, which has never stopped expressing the contemporary world. Starting with Michael Curtiz’s masterpiece Casablanca (1942), in which protagonists Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman wear Borsalino^® hats, the relationship with the seventh art was set to last: Borsalino^® hats were worn by Jean-Paul Belmondo in Breathless (1960), Marcello Mastroianni in 8 ½ (1963), and Tony Servillo in La Grande Bellezza (2013). To this day – a unique case in the film industry – the company has granted the use of its name and logo for two blockbusters starring Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo: Borsalino (1970) and Borsalino & Co. (1974).