Borsalino Appoints Veteran Hat Designer as Its Head of Style
NEW HAT: As part of its continued revamp, storied hatmaker Borsalino has named industry veteran Jacopo Politi its head of style, a newly created role within the company.
Politi quietly joined the Alessandria, Italy-based company last April, taking over the creative studio, previously helmed by Giacomo Santucci, brand curator and a member of Borsalino’s steering committee, who’s remaining with the company in the same role.
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Politi has a track record in the industry as a hat designer and consultant for several luxury brands, including Chanel-owned milliner Maison Michel, where he most recently served as studio director. He also worked at Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Saint Laurent and Balenciaga, among others.
Politi’s first collection for Borsalino is to bow for the fall 2023 season, with the men’s collection to be unveiled at Pitti Uomo in January.
He is tasked with overseeing hat collections, as well as defining the creative input for soft accessories and small leather goods, two recently introduced categories for the brand.
“We are thrilled to welcome Jacopo Politi because of his knowledge of our world as well as an added competence and wealth of experience. A talented visionary, we entrust him with the maison’s evolution while simultaneously enhancing our heritage in a contemporary way,” said Borsalino managing director Mauro Baglietto.
Politi, who briefly worked at Borsalino between 2009 and 2012, told WWD that his aim is to add a “fashion vision to the brand, to tap into a younger audience, that is more trend-driven.”
“I would like for Borsalino to become not only the most prestigious hat in the world but also the most desirable, for its quality and craft and for its ability to reflect current trends,” the designer said, adding that his first collection will embed “unisex styles” in response to clients increasingly buying hats interchangeably.
Santucci said that Politi’s task at the storied brand will follow in the footsteps of his work over the past three years, geared at rejuvenating Borsalino’s image and turning it into a lifestyle brand.
This involved inking two licensing agreements for the production and global distribution of leather goods, handbags and soft accessories such as ties, scarves, gloves and foulards, as reported, as well as linking with edgy brands including Ami Paris.
These moves are in line with owner Haeres Equita’s business plan for the company, set in motion after it won in 2018 the auction set up by the label’s administrators through a deal valued at 6.4 million euros. The auction put an end to the troubled journey that started in December 2015 when Haeres Equita first took over the hatmaker.
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