MILAN — Borsalino is strengthening its management as it prepares for the next phase of growth, revealing Wednesday the appointment of Giacomo Cortesi as its chief executive officer, a new role for the company.

The veteran fashion executive started this week, joining the storied hatmaker on Tuesday as it enhances its governance with the creation of a steering committee comprising the newly named CEO in addition to Borsalino general manager Mauro Baglietto and Philippe Camperio, sole director of Haeres Equita, the private equity firm that has owned the brand since 2018.

“This new governance structure, which brings together industrial and commercial expertise, reflects our determination to position Borsalino strongly in the face of future opportunities and challenges,” Camperio said in a statement. “I am convinced that the complementarity between Giacomo and Mauro represents a fundamental asset in accelerating our growth, strengthening our competitiveness and firmly anchoring the brand’s success to responsible and sustainable leadership.”

An engineering and business graduate, Cortesi was most recently CEO of Italian leather goods brand Bonaventura. He boasts almost three decades of experience at several luxury houses and groups including Compagnie Financière Richemont, where he served as managing director for the leather goods division and held the CEO role at Serapian between 2018 and 2023. Prior to that, he spent more than a decade at Montblanc — also a Richemont brand — and has worked in product management roles at Zegna and Salvatore Ferragamo.

“I am honored to become part of a project with such a strong history and identity. My objective is to lead Borsalino toward a more scalable and sustainable business model, capable of supporting the brand’s international growth without compromising the manufacturing tradition and high quality that distinguish it,” Cortesi said.

Touting the brand’s recent developments including a strategic partnership with Essence Group for expansion in Greater China and the opening of a Shanghai flagship, Baglietto reinstated his belief in and commitment to Borsalino’s commercial potential globally. The executive joined the brand in 2020 and will maintain his current role focusing on retail, wholesale and partnership operations.

In recent years he has masterminded some high-profile collaborations for the brand with fellow luxury labels ranging from Saint Laurent and Ami to Chloe, Yohji Yamamoto, Elie Saab and Vilebrequin.

The brand was founded by Giuseppe Borsalino in 1857. In 2018 Haeres Equita won 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 brand’s troubled journey that started in December 2015 when Haeres Equita first took over the hatmaker.

There are currently 20 stores globally, in cities ranging from Milan and London, to Paris and Cannes. There are also three shops-in-shop in Japan. The brand is available in 45 countries at around 400 points of sale.