Borsalino

Borsalino Giuseppe e Fratello S.p.A. is the oldest Italian company specializing in the manufacture of luxury hats. Since 1857, the manufacturer has been based in 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 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, it 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 manufacturer 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 U.S., where the hats produced in Alessandria were adopted by the Hollywood star system.