On 18 December 2017, the Court of Alessandria formally declared Borsalino Giuseppe e Fratello S.p.A. bankrupt, placing a 160-year-old luxury institution under judicial administration. The collapse threatened a manufacturing tradition tied to Alessandria’s identity and to the survival of its historic production site. Haeres Equita, the private-equity fund that had managed the brand’s activities since 2016, insisted that production, distribution, employment, and the factory would continue. In July 2018, the company was sold through a court auction to Haeres Equita for €6.4 million. The episode became a striking example of a famous European fashion name surviving as a brand and craft operation only after its original corporate structure had failed, with its future secured through insolvency proceedings rather than through the old Borsalino family dynasty.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · 2010s
The 2017 Bankruptcy of Italy’s Legendary Hat House—and Its Rescue at Auction
Borsalino Giuseppe e Fratello S.p.A.; Haeres Equita / 2010s
On 18 December 2017, the Court of Alessandria formally declared Borsalino Giuseppe e Fratello S.p.A. bankrupt, placing a 160-year-old luxury institution under judicial administration. The collapse threatened a manufacturing tradition tied to Alessandria’s identity and to the survival of its historic production site. Haeres Equita, the private-equity fund that had managed the brand’s activities since 2016, insisted that production, distribution, employment, and the factory would continue. In July 2018, the company was sold through a court auction to Haeres Equita for €6.4 million. The episode became a striking example of a famous European fashion name surviving as a brand and craft operation only after its original corporate structure had failed, with its future secured through insolvency proceedings rather than through the old Borsalino family dynasty.
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