The Bear actor swears by Il Bisonte's Script Binder, but all of its accessories are top-notch, including an excellent and slender men's wallet.
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A couple of years ago, the actor Jeremy Allen White, the star of Hulu's The Bear, shared in an interview the maker of the binder he's been using for years to store his scripts. "Il Bisonte," he said. "They work in leather. They also make bags and stuff."
To say that Il Bisonte makes bags is to say that Mercedes dabbles in automobiles. The Florentine label founded over 50 years ago is synonymous with leather goods, though perhaps it became best-known in the United States in the 1980s for its women's handbags. Allen, without meaning to—and, more importantly, without being paid to— introduced the label to a whole new generation of shoppers. "The Script Binder," as the item is formally called, quickly sold out on Il Bisonte's site. The brand makes it in a limited edition, and Allen's plug outstripped the company's own available supply. It remains unavailable in Allen's preferred tan, but a version in black retails for $495.
Allen is that rare thing, a genuine fan who happens to be a celebrity not an ambassador secured through an endorsement deal. As it so happens, so am I. Not an ambassador, I mean, nor a celebrity for that matter, but an Il Bisonte believer. In particular, I swear by its Salina Card Holder.
For many years, I was devoted to a thin men's wallet by Dior. But, not for the first time, I lost it, and I was on the market for a new one when I was traveling on assignment through Florence. It was there that Il Bisonte was founded in 1970 by Wanny Di Filippo, a dapper dresser who enjoys a cult following in Japan—where Il Bisonte is a massive business—and may be one of the quintessential Pitti Peacocks. Di Filippo manufactures his accessories in Tuscany, in the town of Pontassieve, and the line serves men, women and, most recently, the home. I was browsing the wares at Il Bisonte's first boutique, which opened on Via Del Parione in 1973 at Palazzo Corsini, when I spotted the wallet I had been after. Only it wasn't a wallet at all. It was the Salina.
The virtue of a card holder is its size. It is not meant to carry all of your possessions, but the basics, IDs and credit cards, perhaps a few bills. In the age of Apple Pay, it's a miracle I carry any cash at all. Il Bisonte's is perfect. It is slender, functional and discreet. It has no unnecessary features or garish branding. The brand's low-key logo, an impish bison, blends into the supple vegetable tanned cowhide that's only become more beautifully worn in with use. Mine is brown, but it is available in a variety of colors.
Now, I'm not the first person to discover Il Bisonte by chance. Ralph Lauren was visiting Florence when he stopped by the original shop during its earliest days, and Allen came across the brand thanks to another actor, Gary Oldman, who gave him the script binder as a gift. These days, you don't have to be filming a movie in Tuscany or even summering in Italy to try Il Bisonte products. They are available worldwide across e-commerce and in scores of brick-and-mortars, including some 50 stores in Japan and a New York City flagship that opened in 1987, when Allen wasn't even born yet.
Erik Maza is the Executive Style Director at Town & Country, overseeing print, digital and social coverage of fashion, architecture/design and the intersection of money, power and scandal. Before T&C, he led W’s editorial voice across digital platforms, including the relaunch of the trademark “In & Out” List as a weekly newsletter. Earlier, he edited Women’s Wear Daily’s the Eye®, a news/features vertical covering culture and style. He was also WWD’s media columnist, reporting a daily column, Memo Pad, that consistently broke news about the media industry in a highly competitive beat. He began his career working as a reporter at the Miami New Times and later at the Baltimore Sun. He was born and raised in Cuba, and lives in New York City. He can be found on X and Instagram @erikmaza.
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