Optimo Hat Company has been recognized with a 2018 Design Excellence Award from the Illinois chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID-IL). The former firehouse-turned-fashion headquarters was honored in the Retail category. Additionally, it was featured in the October 2018 issue of Modern Luxury Interiors Magazine. The ASID-IL Design Excellence Awards honor the best in interior design in several categories and recognize the impact of a project on the users’ lives or livelihoods. ASID-IL presented the honors at its annual Celebration of Design and Design Excellence Awards on Thursday, September 13th in the Merchandise Mart.
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. Optimo’s new headquarters is a LEED Silver certified adaptive reuse that consolidates the design, operations, and production spaces of the hatter into a nearby building: a renovated 100-year old firehouse, formerly owned by the city. Designed to support an efficient and collaborative workflow, the new headquarters more than doubles the company’s production capacity and accommodates future expansion, while allowing Optimo to reaffirm its committment to local hiring and training on Chicago’s South Side.