On May 10th, 2018, Optimo Hat Company was honored with a Recognizing Exemplary Design (RED) Award by the International Interior Design Association’s Illinois Chapter. The awards program spotlights projects for interior architecture and design schemes. Optimo was awarded in the Retail category.
Optimo is one of the leading makers of bespoke, handcrafted hats, serving a diverse and global clientele. Based for more than 25 years in the historic southwest Chicago neighborhood of Beverly, the company had outgrown its former premises in a small storefront-turned-factory.
The award-winning project, Optimo’s new headquarters, is a LEED®? Silver certified adaptive reuse project that consolidates the design, operations, and production spaces of the company into a 100-year old firehouse, formerly owned by the city of Chicago. Designed to support an efficient and collaborative workflow, the headquarters more than doubles the company’s production capacity and accommodates future expansion, while allowing Optimo to reaffirm its commitment to local hiring and training on Chicago’s South Side.