Borsalino bankrupt

[davidhuh]

Gentlemen,

Fiveteen or twenty years ago, I would have been in tears reading this:
http://www.ansa.it/english/news/lifesty ... 35927.html

Today, I'm still sad, but more about what this company used to be in the past. The few hats I bought 30 years ago that I have not lost since are of a different kind than what they were selling in the last few years. If one company illustrates the decline of felt and hat making, it is Borsalino

Some good hat making is still happening today, fortunately

Cheers, David

[rjman]

Dear David:

I've also read that Borsalino had changed its methods and quality following management changes about a 10-15 years ago. In the last few years, owners tried to expand the brand into clothing and seem to have overcommitted themselves. I suspect that the current owners may try to buy what they can of the facility out of liquidation at a beat-down price and rehire some of the staff and keep going, but as you mention, quality is never going to be the way it was 30 years ago or longer.

Have you seen the Delon/Belmondo films Borsalino and Borsalino et Cie?

Lastly, while not a hat person, there is one good bespoke French hatter left, Pauline Brosset. Friends speak highly of her. She was trained by the late hatmaker from the old hatters Gelot.

[alden]

Lastly, while not a hat person, there is one good bespoke French hatter left, Pauline Brosset. Friends speak highly of her. She was trained by the late hatmaker from the old hatters Gelot.

Fernand Sebbah, ex of Gelot (Lanvin) designed and made the LL Bespoke hat collection in 2009. Vimeo still has a few of the videos we did together at the time. When Sebbah passed away suddenly, Pauline Brosset took his place. It was the very generous custom of LL members that got Pauline started. We did everything possible at the time: finding suppliers, opening accounts and commissioning many hats. I still thank all of you who stepped up to help Pauline back then.

Pauline Brosset is a great hatmaker and, as many of you know, an exceedingly competent and beautiful young woman.

Cheers

[hectorm]

Some good hat making is still happening today, fortunately.

And some of that good -I would say, excellent- hat making is still happening in, of all places, Los Angeles the capital of informal.
The artisan, Mr. Mark Mejia, has his shop -Baron Hats Studio- in Burbank and he specializes in bespoke hats, worked up from a wood block after your head (equivalent to a suit pattern). If you can afford them, great custom-made felt Fedoras and Monticristi Panamas. The latter in extra-fino would cost you as much as a small Fiat.

[davidhuh]

quality is never going to be the way it was 30 years ago or longer.

Definitely not. You don't get this felt quality anymore, and if you do, prices reach a level only a few aficionados would pay. It was about two years ago when a big hat shop went into liquidation in Switzerland after the death of its owner. The almost 90-year old man had kept all unsold stock, and simply added new things throughout his life. I went there twice with a good friend - we walked away with about 100 hats of amazing quality. Fortunately, we don't wear the same size The Borsalini we got were from the seventies, eighties and nineties; some stuff was from the sixties and even earlier. My friend got two English boaters from the twenties. Some unknown brands as well - and all the felt is just incredible.

Have you seen the Delon/Belmondo films Borsalino and Borsalino et Cie?

Of course

Lastly, while not a hat person, there is one good bespoke French hatter left, Pauline Brosset. Friends speak highly of her. She was trained by the late hatmaker from the old hatters Gelot.

Despite my Swiss liquidation shopping, Madame Brosset is on my list. Optimo in Chicago has great stuff - their beaver belly felt is extraordinary. And there is Szaszi in Vienna, run by Shmuel Shapira. Highly recommended

Cheers, David

[uppercase]

Although not a dedicated hat man, this is the kind of insider information I love to read.
Only here on LL. Thanks!!

[couch]

David, I'm glad to know that, given your material for comparison, you can vouch for the quality of felt used by Graham at Optimo. I have a couple of older Borsalinos--a truly gorgeous NOS dove-gray fedora from Bulgaria that dates from the pre-war era, and a warm chocolate brown collapsible stingy-brim from the early 1960s that has the most amazing velour-pile felt. But those sources are long gone, so I've been contemplating Optimo for a basic neutral brown trilby/fedora along the lines of Alden's bespoke order (which sadly I missed). And to properly block a couple of Montecristi panamas . . . .

[davidhuh]

MILAN (Reuters) - Italy’s Borsalino, one of the world’s most famous hat makers and known for Humphrey Bogart’s fedora in the film “Casablanca”, has been rescued by Haeres Equita, a group of investors led by a Swiss-Italian financier.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ital ... SKBN1K22QC