The new fashion year starts at a low point, but still with a pinch of optimism. Pitti Uomo opened the season this week, with more exhibitors and visitors than last season, but without shows and events. The focus was on sustainability.
The men’s fashion fair Pitti Uomo, which traditionally opens the new season in Florence, had to shift down a gear in a very short time. Guest of honor Ann Demeulemeester canceled a planned event last week. Brunello Cucinelli, one of the most important exhibitors at the fair, was also absent this season. In Milan, where menswear week kicks off on Friday, the show calendar looks remarkably empty. Paris then juggles runway shows, digital presentations and showroom appointments over the next week.
The travel options for trade visitors – including those from China and Japan – remain restricted. In addition, access for Russian visitors and exhibitors is difficult because the corona vaccine Sputnik offered in Russia is not recognized in Europe.
Good news from Florence
The mood was good, both at the fair itself and in the ballroom of the 15th-century Palazzo Pitti, where one of the few events took place on Wednesday evening: a presentation in the style of Ru Paul’s Drag Race , which was moderated by Finnish designer Ervin Latimer, who presented his label Lattimmier in red lingerie and a blonde wig.
“It’s good to see and talk to people in person again,” said Finnish designer Rolf Ekroth.
A number of established Italian labels, from Herno to Caruso to Kiton, have stayed true to the world’s most important menswear convention – unlike Cucinelli.
548 companies booked exhibition space, 28 percent of them from abroad. “We’ve lost another 60 exhibitors in the last four weeks,” said Raffaello Napoleone, managing director of organizer Pitti Immagine, in his office on the Fortezza Basso, the former fortress where the fair takes place. He pointed out that it is These are often small brands: “When such a small team suddenly has to be quarantined, there is little room for manoeuvre.” 37 brands limited their participation to a digital presence on the Pitti Connect online platform.
There were more exhibitors than at the last edition and more visitors. According to Napoleone, there were a remarkable number of Dutch buyers, more than a hundred. Participation from European countries such as France, Germany and Belgium was good. Despite the difficulties, a small number of buyers from Asia and Russia were also spotted. “And we were able to welcome seventeen American stores with about thirty buyers,” said Napoleone.
A comparison with the “normal” events of the past, with an average of around 1,200 exhibitors, remains difficult. Not only did Corona restrict the fair, it was also shortened by one day.
“We didn’t think for a moment about canceling this edition,” said the CEO. “Italian law allows fairs with the ‘Super Green Pass’, so there was no reason not to allow the Pitti. When we decided to do the physical editions for We also complied with the law when we canceled June 2020 and January 2021. We lost 39 million euros at the time.Pitti Immagine was founded in the 1950s to promote Italian and international fashion.This is our role and ours must fulfill this role as soon as possible.” Napoleone pointed out the security measures taken, which include free tests and FFP2 masks, which are mandatory in Italy from entering the premises. “We’ve ordered twenty thousand.”
“This season is stronger than the previous one. The winter edition is stronger than the summer edition. There are more exhibitors. And the sales and export figures for Italian fashion are on the upswing. The only markets with declining numbers are the UK, Japan and Hong Kong. Should the Pitti be abolished under these circumstances? No, we did what we had to do under difficult circumstances. We made the only right decision. I like to compare our situation to driving in a snowstorm: do you stand at the side of the road, turn off the engine and wait for it to pass, or do you put on the winter tires and drive off?”
Sustainability makes the breakthrough
One notable international exhibitor was New Delhi-based Itoh, which specializes in exclusive hand-woven fabrics. “We’ve been around for four years,” says Creative Director Amit Babbar. “We’re bringing a new Indian aesthetic that’s not ethnic, it’s contemporary. However, we use our traditions, fabrics and techniques. Our clients are architects and artists :inside. As an Indian label, winter clothing is not our forte. For this first participation in Pitti Uomo, we are bringing a collection that can be described as ‘trans-seasonal’, including hand-woven wool. We will definitely be coming next season be there again.”
The reactions are excellent, said Babbar. “There are quite a lot of people there, although mostly locals. There are few Japanese or Americans, and I think we’re a bit too niche for Italian buyers.”
Finnish designer Rolf Ekroth has digitally presented his collection for next winter on the Pitti platform. The collection is full of references to the 90s, techno and motorcycle racing. “My cousins were very into motorcycles, I wasn’t so much,” says Ekroth at his stand. “I tried to imagine what my childhood in Finland could have been like.”
“It was very quiet on the first day, but today it went very well. people are happy. It’s good to meet again, to talk “live”, mentally and physically. I think it’s important to see fashion, touch clothes and talk about them. A video alone is not enough.”
Still, this season Ekroth has opted for a video presentation rather than a physical one. “I found one show a bit difficult. Meeting people works in an exhibition hall like this, which offers a lot of space, so you can keep some distance. At a show, everyone sits too close together. A video is also cheaper. For an independent designer like me, that matters too.”
The definitive breakthrough of sustainable fashion was very noticeable this season with large, stand-alone pavilions for brands such as Ecoalf and Save The Duck. Both labels have taken a big step with their “B Corporation” certification.
Italian label Save The Duck celebrated its tenth anniversary, including with the show’s most exciting collaboration: British designer Edward Crutchley designed a capsule for the label’s Protech line.
“I liked Ecoalf’s slogan: There Is No Planet B,” said Sonja Noël, owner and buyer of the renowned Brussels designer boutique Stijl. For her first trade fair visit since 2019, she traveled by train on principle. Noël ran the from 2010 to 2015 sustainable boutique Haleluja and remains a big supporter of slow fashion.”I really see an evolution on this front, both with brands and with my customers. There are fewer pre-collections, the fashion weeks are being designed differently, and the Customers buy less, but they also care less about the price. They don’t ask for discounts in December.”
“I also saw at Pitti this week that sustainability is a big thing,” said Noël. “There are a lot of promises everywhere now: zero waste, no animals, recycling. Some brands are going for everything, and that’s good so, you can’t say anything against that. But when I walk around Pitti, I see very few products that stick in my mind. I soon forgot about them. That goes for the big brands, but also for small designers, who often don’t have a proper collection yet. I see it more as an exercise. It was nice to see Christopher Raeburn again. He’s a pioneer and that remains a nice story. I’ve also seen some Italian brands that specialize in one product category only on trousers, knitwear or shoes”.
Herno continues to invest in its younger Globe line, with a focus on recycled materials. And Marc O’Polo is also working on a change of course: all the products on the stand were sustainable. The Swedish-German brand aims to be fully sustainable by 2023 and carbon neutral by 2025. Marc O’Polo also works with Manteco, an Italian company that produces wool through “post-consumer recycling”.
Elsewhere at the fair there was again an area dedicated to young sustainable labels, Style Sustainable Style. The most compelling collection was that of Philip Huang, a New York and Bangkok-based designer who makes indigo-dyed workwear in Isan, Thailand. “Our cotton is handspun, handdyed and handwoven. We do thirty meters a month,” said the designer. Huang has also introduced hand-dyed leather, recycled denim, indigo ikat, and a new green moss color made from indigo and mango.
News from the Pitti Uomo
US-based outdoor brand Filson, known for robust lumberjack shirts, backpacks and other bags, among other things, has signed a distribution and licensing agreement with WP Lavori In Corso, the group that also owns brands such as Woolrich, Baracuta, Barbour, Nanamica , Engineered Garments and Beams in its portfolio (partly for the Italian market, partly for international markets). At Pitti, the focus was on an extensive clothing collection with down jackets, jeans and shirts made of flannel and moleskin. Decades-old pieces from the company’s archives were displayed on the walls of the pavilion.
Underwear manufacturer Sloggi is attempting a collaboration for the first time – with the team at German avant-garde magazine 032C. Liu Jo presented a men’s collection at Pitti, and the Russian Red September collection by designer Olga Vasyukova made its debut in Florence.
Brunello Cucinelli’s absence was replaced by labels like Caruso (with creative director Aldo Maria Camillo) and Kiton. The latter company was represented for the first time at Pitti with KNT (Kiton New Textures), the urban wear label of the twins Mariano and Walter De Matteis, the third generation of the Kiton family.
This translated post previously appeared on FashionUnited.nl.