It had been almost two and a half years that the Fortezza da Basso in Florence had not seen such a turnout for Pitti Uomo, the most important fair in the world of men’s fashion, which opened yesterday: 682 brands, 41% foreign, presenting the spring-summer 2023 collections. Dynamism and desire to invest seem to be back, but it has changed since January 2020, when Covid was still a school hypothesis: companies today are forced to focus on production aspects due to the difficulties in finding raw materials and for the increases in energy and logistics costs, which are leading to increases in price lists in the order of 5-10%. Being able to produce and deliver on time has become the crucial challenge, all the more important in a phase in which the Italian men’s fashion industry (9.4 billion in 2021 revenues for 70.6% of exports, with a balance commercial of 2.6 billion) is working to return to pre-Covid levels, above 10 billion.
“The paradigm shift induced by the pandemic – explains Claudio Marenzi, owner of the high-end brand Herno and president of Pitti Immagine, the company that organizes the fair – was to bring attention back to the operations and on logistics: today companies have to organize themselves to plan their productions and to be able to make them, they have to invest in technologies and human resources. The bigger ones can do it, the smaller ones will have to join in order not to die ». Herno will close 2022 with over 140 million in turnover (+ 15% on 2021), 75% of exports, surpassing pre-Covid levels thanks to the boom in the US, the good performance of Germany, the recovery of Japan and Korea.
The Slowear Veneto group (brands Incotex, Zanone, Glanshirt and Montedoro) is planning store openings (20 in the next four years) in Europe and the USA, which returns to Pitti with the Incotex Blue Division project, developed with the Venetian company Giada, excellence in the denim. «In two weeks we will open a 200-meter flagship store in New York – explains CEO Marco Bernardini – and this year we will go from 34 to 45 million in turnover, almost 70% abroad. Then in 2023 we will continue to grow and return to a positive result. The supply difficulties are making themselves felt and we are thinking of bringing some productions closer: luckily today the made in Italy is less scary for everyone ».
Being able to count on a nearby and directly controlled production chain was the salvation for Lardini, the Marche brand of formal clothing that at Pitti Uomo presents a capsule collection with Pietro Terzini, aimed at a young audience: “During Covid we helped our fans – says the president Andrea Lardini, 70 million in turnover at the end of 2022 -. At this moment there is the possibility to grow but only for healthy production companies, which have a structured supply chain and can ensure product and service “.