Alessi tilts its hat to Arad’s black felt number

Designer Ron Arad’s trademark black felt hat has been cloned by Alessi as a limited edition – the Italian manufacturer’s first step away from houseware products into the world of fashion.

Arad’s ‘Cappellone’ is not as strange as you may think, says Alberto Alessi, as the company has been looking ‘beyond the limits of its history’ for some time.

With customary eloquence – or did he just swallow a thesaurus? – Arad adds: ‘Why Cappellone? Because it’s not a bowler hat, baseball cap, beret, cloche, riding hat, borsalino or panama and nor is it an effing Kangol or Breugel and yet it is a little bit of all of them.’