Panama 1924

Panama 1924 is an Italian fragrance and men's grooming house based in Naples. It grew out of a family barbershop tradition that the Boellis family traces back to 1924, though the perfume label itself is far younger: Michele Boellis, the third generation of the family, created Panama 1924 at the end of the 1990s as a tribute to his grandfather [7]. The brand describes itself as an expression of "Italian elegance and style" [1] and remains an active, family-run business, selling through its own e-commerce site and a range of European specialist retailers.

The name carries two references at once. "Panama" recalls the Panama hat worn by Antonio Boellis, the grandfather; "1924" marks the year he arrived in Naples and began working as a barber-perfumer. That figure is a heritage date for the barbershop, not the founding year of the fragrance company — a distinction the brand's own storytelling makes explicit.

According to the company, the story begins with Antonio Boellis, who came to Naples from Sicily in 1924 and set up as a barber-perfumer on the city's waterfront, recognisable by the Panama hat he wore against the sun [7]. In that era, as the brand recounts, barbering and perfumery were often practised side by side.

The business passed to Antonio's son, Peppino, who around 1960 moved the salon to the upper floor of an historic building in central Naples and expanded it, turning the shop into what one account calls a men's salon run "like a kind of club" where customers gathered to be shaved and groomed [7]. Michele Boellis, Peppino's son, entered the family trade as a boy and represents the third generation.

Sources differ on who is credited with launching the modern fragrance line. The brand's own site and most editorial coverage name Michele Boellis as its creator [2]. One fragrance blog instead attributes the perfume line to Antonio Boellis — the grandson, who shares his grandfather's name and also belongs to the third generation — noting that both brothers inherited the business [7]. The company's own account is the more consistent across sources.

The dates the brand emphasises span three generations. Antonio Boellis founded the Naples barbershop in 1924; Peppino relocated and grew it around 1960; and Michele Boellis started the Panama 1924 fragrance venture at the end of the 1990s [7]. Alongside the men's fragrances, Michele added a full line of personal-care products built around the same scents.

The founding year is genuinely ambiguous depending on what is being dated. The "1924" in the name refers to the barbershop's beginnings and the arrival of Antonio Boellis in Naples [1]. The perfume house, by contrast, dates only to the late 1990s according to the sources that describe its creation [7]. The brand frames the 1924 date as heritage — a roughly hundred-year lineage of Neapolitan barbering — rather than the age of the label itself.

Panama 1924 is organised around two main fragrance lines, Linea Panama1924 and Linea Daytona, each extended into grooming products such as aftershave, shaving soap, deodorant and shower gel. The signature scent, 1924 Eau de Parfum, is presented as the house's best-selling fragrance, described by one grooming publication as inspired by the cool breeze of the Italian seaside and built on notes including lavender, lemon and mint over a base of sandalwood and tobacco flower [6].

The wider catalogue runs to several fragrances, among them Sospeso, an eau de parfum that references caffè sospeso — a Neapolitan custom of paying in advance for a coffee to be given to a stranger [7]. On the men's-care side, the range includes shave soap, aftershave balm and related grooming items.

The company positions the products as artisanal and Italian-made. It describes a style "interpreted with passion by skilled artisans attentive to every detail," and says the fragrances are composed chiefly of natural raw materials "that guarantee quality and refinement" [2]. Production is described as handcrafted in Italy.

Third-party coverage is limited but present. The men's-grooming retailer Fendrihan published a brand profile in January 2024 that singled out 1924 and Daytona 10 as the house's top-selling fragrances [6]. On the fragrance community site Fragrantica, the 1924 scent is classified as an aromatic fougère and characterised by reviewers as a mature masculine composition suited to autumn and winter [10]. An earlier editorial on the blog ALZD reviewed the Sospeso eau de parfum and set out the Boellis family history in some detail.

Panama 1924 remains active. It operates its own online store and is distributed through several European specialist retailers alongside a listing on Amazon, with editorial coverage as recent as 2024 [6]. It is a small, niche, family-run operation rather than a large fragrance group, and no parent company or outside ownership is recorded; the business is registered in Naples under Michele Boellis.