ICONIC HAT: Borsalino has created a new fedora style inspired by one of the brand’s most famous customers: Humphrey Bogart.
As part of the strategy to relaunch the Alessandra-based hat maker under the guidance of its new owner — private equity group Haeres Equita — Borsalino has partnered with the Humphrey Bogart estate on the creation of an exclusive fedora style.
Crafted from hare and rabbit fur, Borsalino’s The Bogart style reinterprets the classic fedora with a medium brim and a high dome. The gray felt is matched to a charcoal-gray grosgrain belt and lined on the interior with gray satin, which features Bogart’s silhouette and brand’s logo, both in gold. The black leather band inside the hat bears one of Bogart’s iconic sayings engraved in gold: “Do everything. One thing may turn out right.”
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Retailing at $485, the hat is already available on the brand’s web site as well as at selected retailers worldwide.
Borsalino gained international visibility when Bogart sported the signature fedora hat in the Oscar-winning 1943 movie “Casablanca,” along with costar Ingrid Bergman, also wearing one of the brand’s hats.
The hat maker said the partnership will be renewed each season with styles to be added to the collection. The Humphrey Bogart estate was established to protect and promote the legacy of the iconic American actor.
To celebrate the initiative, the brand is also releasing a dedicated video series to bow on the brand’s web site on Nov. 30. Named “Bogart by Borsalino,” the short clips portray passersby on the streets of Milan trying on the “Bogart” hat and giving tips on how to wear it, each one according to their personal styles.
Haeres Equita took over Borsalino in July through an auction deal valued at 6.4 million euros. The brand, which closed 2017 with revenues of 17.5 million euros, in line with the previous year, started directly distributing its collections in Japan last summer, as part of an expansion plan that includes the opening of a flagship in New York by the end of 2019.
