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13/07/2007
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Pitti Uomo just beaming with energy
At the Fortezza da Basso lou, clear signals of recovery in men´s fashions
During the four days of the 13-section fair (20-23 June 2007) seven hundred ten exhibitors were at the Fortezza da Basso showing 867 collections, plus over 120 fashion and fashion-related events swept up the whole city of Florence
“It was an energy-filled edition,” says Raffaello Napoleone, CEO of Pitti Immagine. “The new points on the Pitti Uomo were really successful: the Fashion District contributed to making the new geography of menswear more legible, as did the reinforcement of the Classico work in the Main Pavilion. The overall impression we got of the buyers’ quality is excellent, and in terms of numbers, the turnout was steady at the highs reached at recent editions. From the Pitti Uomo observatory we can say that the signals of recovery in men’s fashions are here and we heard them in Florence, loud and clear.”
Looking at the numbers, a total of 21,219 buyers came to show, confirming last summer’s levels (21,683 attended the June 2006 edition). There were 12,747 Italian buyers against 12,897 last June: slight decrease in which the 22 June train strike certainly had a hand. On the foreign side, with a total of 8,472 buyers (8,741 in June 2006) we must note the important results from India (the number of buyers from Indian nearly doubled!), excellent performance on the part of Eastern Europe’s emerging markets such as Russia (the number of Russian stores rose by 20.2%), Poland (buyer attendance up 28.5%), Czech Republic (67.4% more buyers) and Latvia also doubled its buyers. Nor can we overlook the fine performances by Portugal (+ 11%), Spain (the number of buyers rose by 6.9%), the United States (3.3% more stores), Switzerland (up 2.92%) and the steady turnout from Belgium, France and Great Britain.
The sixteen leading countries are: Germany (1,025 buyers vs. 1,108 in June 2006), Japan (915 vs. 1,047), Spain (791 v 740), Great Britain (628 vs. 629), Holland (553 vs. 566), Turkey (409 vs. 445), France (382 vs. 408), South Korea (363 vs. 402), Greece (342 vs. 391), Switzerland (293 vs. 299) Belgium (254 vs. 255), United States (262 vs. 271), China (230 vs. 235), Russia (218 vs. 221), Austria (216 vs. 237) and Portugal (172 vs. 155).
During the fair, we went around the Fortezza and heard the opinions of some important buyers: “The atmosphere you breathe here at Pitti Uomo is like a creativity factory,” said Naohisa Fujita, fashion director of the Japanese department store colossus Isetan, Tokyo “innovation and research are in the foreground. Here you can make direct contacts with fashion designers and creatives from all over the world who have been prescreened by careful scouting.” A privileged observation point for understanding trends: for Roberta Valentini of Penelope in Brescia (Italy), “Pitti Uomo constructs a total overview of the season’s contents and presents it in an extremely segmented way.” “It is the window you must see, and not only for Made in Italy,” added Lino Ricci of the eponymous store in Perugia, “and it is the first and most important international event of the season,” added Elisabetta Giannini from Cose in Cremona. For notes on trends, Beppe Angiolini from Sugar in Arezzo, noted the large increase in niche offers, “small firms capable of making a product that is interesting in its style and research contents, especially in knitwear and accessories.” And as to the mood for spring-summer 2008, the trend is clearly heading towards simplification: clean shapes and volumes, with lightness in materials.” Fujita, from Isetan concluded with two strong, informal trends: “the American preppy look revisited in an Italian key, and there is a sport vein – that you also see in the classics – enhanced by evermore ambitious hi-tech materials.”
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(Informationsquelle: Pitti Immagine srl)
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