55 years: the timeline

1970

The first fifty five years of Il Bisonte are intertwined with the biography of its founder Antonio di Filippo, known as Wanny. Born in Veneto, Wanny shows great propensity at an early age for creativity, but his father pushes him to enroll in a technical institute. Wanny doesn’t complete his studies. Instead he is hired as a mechanic’s apprentice and cultivates his passion for art through correspondence painting courses offered by a Parisian school.

As an auto parts sales rep, he makes frequent business trips to Sardinia. There over the weekends, in full hippie spirit, he weaves leather and creates bracelets and belts that he gives to friends. He shows his creations to a company that declines to produce them claiming they’re too original and technically unworkable. Wanny is undeterred and decides, with his wife Nadia, to produce what he has designed.

A basement in the heart of Florence houses Il Bisonte’s earliest headquarters. The first people to buy his bags are Florentine nobles living in the area, and passing tourists (including Ralph Lauren). Others arrive shortly thereafter thanks to word of mouth.

1970 - 1980

The name of the brand arrives with its first customers. It is Wanny himself who chooses it in honor of the animal he’s always considered his totem: a symbol of strength and docility, of courage and resilience. He also designs the logo, though his first bison is so placid it looks like a cow. Ten years later, in 1980, he redesigns the animal’s profile and adds a star, shaping the brand into what still characterizes all its creations today.

Wanny throws himself passionately into his craft. In 1972 he takes part in Pitti Immagine Donna and enjoys extraordinary success. In 1973 Il Bisonte headquarters move to Palazzo Corsini in Via del Parione, where the offices and showroom are still located today. Luciano, then sixteen and now head of the factory, starts working with him.

These are years of great creative excitement and buzz. Nadia launches her shearling line and Wanny designs some of Il Bisonte’s timeless icons such as the transformable Caramella (1973), Maremmana (1974) and Vagabonda (1976) as well as the first backpacks.

1980 - 1990

There are many Americans among the first customers to the Florence store, but it’s not until the early ‘80s that Il Bisonte begins to make an appearance in the most famous stores in New York and Long Island, such as Barneys, Bloomingdale’s, Bendel, Macy’s, Ann Taylor and Trees.

In 1984 the first single-brand stores were opened in Paris (inside the Galerie Véro Dodat on the Rive Droit) and Milan (in Via della Madonnina, in the heart of Brera).

As sales grow so does the company: in 1985 the offices in Via del Parione expand to include a factory in Pontassieve, a town located in the heart of the Florentine leather district.

In 1986 a second Parisian shop opens in Rue de Cherche Midi, on the Left Bank and in 1987 Il Bisonte’s sign also lights up in New York City, on Thompson Street.

1990 - 2000

The great Japanese adventure begins in 1999 when the first of 38 stores opens in Kyoto. Thanks to their unmistakable style, Il Bisonte and its founder Wanny, immediately become true icons of Made-in-Italy style.

Meanwhile, in the province of Florence, Il Bisonte’s 30Km production chain takes shape: thanks to solid relationships built over time with the best craftsmen and suppliers around, the brand’s top quality supply chain remains rooted in the heart of Tuscany, at the center of a territory that has been producing the best leather and fabrics in the world for millennia.

2000 - 2010

In 2001 the Pontassieve production plant expands and moves to Via Lisbona, where it is still located today.

In 2003, in tribute to the area where the company was founded and grew, Il Bisonte begins to back the San Casciano Azzurra Volley women’s volleyball team (now Il Bisonte Azzurra Volley) as its main sponsor; the team has played in Series A since 2012.

In 2008 the second single-brand store opens in Rome, in Via dei Coronari.

That same year, a collaborative project begins which has for the past twelve years linked Il Bisonte to Palazzo Strozzi, the most prestigious Florentine exhibition venue featuring modern and contemporary art. For each show, Il Bisonte creates a Family Kit bag, a small finely crafted work of art that helps both young and old visitors learn about the masterpieces on display.

Art world adventures have continued since 2017 with the Piera bag and an entire line of leather accessories created by Il Bisonte specifically for the Brera Academy.

2010 - 2020

In 2010 Il Bisonte celebrates its fortieth anniversary with events in Italy and Japan, and launches its first online store.

Between 2012 and 2018 the brand consolidates its presence in the Far East, opening its first single-brand store in Seoul, three stores in Jakarta and three stores and a pop-up in Hong Kong, in the prestigious IFG and K11 malls.

2019 marks the great return to New York, with the inauguration of the Bleecker St. boutique.

In July 2019, on the eve of celebrating its fiftieth year in business, Il Bisonte is purchased by its historic distributor, Look Holdings Inc., a company listed on the Tokyo stock exchange.

2020 - 2025

In 2020, during the height of the pandemic, Il Bisonte celebrated its first 50 years by donating an arboreal installation to the city of Florence. This installation, created with 50 thirty-year-old oak trees, was planted in the San Donato park in Novoli as a living symbol of the company's values and its commitment to fostering a positive change for the planet in the name of sustainability.
With that same goal, in 2022 Il Bisonte began a collaboration with Orti Dipinti, a community garden in the heart of Florence’s historic center, the only one of its kind within a UNESCO area. The company’s investment, born from deeply shared values, allowed for the complete renovation of the urban garden, equipping it with lighting and a digital irrigation control system for the plants and flowers, as well as the development of educational programs for local citizens and international students.
In line with its ongoing commitment to environmental responsibility, in 2023 Il Bisonte supported the U.S.-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which has been working for over 100 years to protect the brand’s symbolic animal (the bison) and promote its repopulation.
In 2023, the brand launched a collaboration with renowned New York interior designer Shawn Henderson, who created a capsule collection of design objects (There’s a Home for Everything). The collection includes exquisite home items made with wooden frames handcrafted by Tuscan carpenters and covered in leather. The collection expanded in 2024 with the presentation of The Keepsake Box at Fuori Salone.

2024 also saw the start of a collaboration with globetrotter, trendsetter, and founder of YOLO Journal Yolanda Edwards, who reinterpreted an iconic bag inspired by recent collections, and transformed it into the perfect accessory for travelers.

In March 2025, the first Il Bisonte pop-up store is set to open in Singapore, marking a strategic first step in the brand's expansion into the Asian market. This aligns with the five-year development plan presented by Look Holdings Inc., which is also particularly interested in historically key markets such as Japan and the United States.