MILAN — Borsalino is hitting the U.S. with its first retail outpost Stateside.
The storied hatmaker is opening a seasonal pop-up shop inside Miami’s Bal Harbour luxury mall, which will remain open through the end of July.
The 753-square-foot space features backlit, beehive-like displays on the two side walls and central counters combining glass and wood. The subdued dove-gray space under soft lighting is peppered with panels bearing zebra patterns.
The move reflects the company’s bet on the U.S. market, where it operated only via wholesale until now. “The U.S. is very strategic for Borsalino with enormous potential that up until now had not yet been expressed,” said Mauro Baglietto, the company’s managing director.
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“This first stand-alone pop-up represents an important part of our ongoing current retail and commercial development plan that also includes department stores as an area of growth. It also holds particular value due to the brand’s long-standing and significant ties with America, a market which has historically appreciated and continues to appreciate our products,” he added.
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Case in point: After revamping its online shop in 2020, as part of Baglietto’s plans to rejuvenate and inject newness in the 165-year-old company, Borsalino’s e-commerce sales in the U.S. increased. “The platform was redesigned to offer users an engaging shopping experience based on storytelling and the customer journey. Thanks to the redesign, we’ve seen increased and continual growth, especially in the U.S., that today represents our second-largest market,” the executive said.
Throughout the summer 2022 season, the hatmaker plans to unveil several pop-ups along the lines of the Miami unit in key resort destinations overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. It will reprise its 2021 format that saw the brand touring luxury seaside locations with a three-wheel Piaggio Borsalino Ape car-slash-pop-up.
Baglietto said that the company is also planning special-edition products for its partners to strengthen tie-ups with retailers and further cement its newly rebooted positioning as a lifestyle brand, as suggested by licensing deals for leather goods and soft accessories inked last year.
The Miami opening is part of Borsalino’s wider retail strategy aimed at bulking up its international footprint.
Last month the company opened a flagship in Monte Carlo, building on the success of last year’s summer pop-up in the city. Located on the first floor of the Metropole Shopping Monte-Carlo and covering 376 square feet, it joins the existing boutiques in central Milan, Paris, Rome and Mykonos, Greece, among others. The latter was inaugurated in 2021 alongside a unit at Milan’s Linate airport.
Since joining the Haeres Equita-owned brand in 2020, Baglietto has masterminded Borsalino’s reboot aimed at catering to a younger consumer base. This is in line with its owner’s business plan for the company, set in motion after in 2018 it won the auction set up by the label’s administrators with a deal valued at 6.4 million euros. The auction put an end to the brand’s troubled journey that started in December 2015 when Haeres Equita first took over the hatmaker.