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Men’s fashion, the early recovery that makes you proud

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Men’s fashion, the early recovery that makes you proud

We anticipate the article that opens the Men’s Fashion Special, on newsstands tomorrow with Il Sole 24 Ore: 30 pages of news from menswear companies, analyses, insights into retail and new collections, showcases with new wearables and beauty proposals.

It wasn’t obvious, yet almost three years after the start of the pandemic, the Italian fashion industry seems to have rediscovered the path of growth and record turnover, driven by the luxury segment. The open problems remain many, from the surge in energy costs (which compresses margins) to the difficulties in the procurement of raw materials and semi-finished products, up to the shortage of specialized workforce. But the ability to recover and penetrate markets (especially foreign ones) demonstrated by Italian companies is a source of pride and a sign of strength. Looking at the numbers – and in particular the 100 million revenues, 70% from abroad, estimated in 2022 for the textile-fashion-accessory (Tma) sector, up 9% on 2019 – one might think that the effects of the pandemic have been cancelled, but inflation and price increases must be taken into account.

The recovery is particularly strong in men’s clothing, where forecasts by Confindustria Moda indicate revenues for 2022 at +11% on 2019 (and +20% on 2021), above 11 billion. In reality, the health emergency – which is still upsetting the largest producer of raw materials in the sector, China – has left a profound mark on supply chains, production organisation, design and presentation of collections and, last but not least, fairs and fashion events. Compared to pre-Covid, the focus has changed: the main concern of brands is no longer selling, but producing.

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As Claudio Marenzi, president of Pitti Immagine, which organizes Pitti Uomo, the world‘s most important men’s fashion show kicking off today in Florence with almost 800 brands, has been repeating for months, in the post-pandemic the challenge for companies is to organize themselves to plan productions and to be able to achieve them, invest in technologies and human resources. From these new needs, the attempts to bring the supply chains closer (reshoring), to make agreements or enter into partnerships with upstream suppliers (a path traveled above all by the big brands), to anticipate the creation of the garments so as not to risk stay dry and deliver late.

But this is also where the operations of investment funds arise, which have understood the importance of the production phase and are buying or aggregating specialized suppliers who possess the know-how, small manufacturing companies until a few years ago ignored by the financial world and by the big players international. The pandemic has changed the cards on the table. And it has generated a ripple effect that has already led some companies to present their collections (and to open the sales campaign) weeks earlier than in the past (in November and May instead of January and June). If we add the fact that Covid has cleared digital showrooms, multiplied online relationships, pushed virtual reality and the metaverse, it is easy to understand how fashion, often referred to as a traditional sector, is in full evolution and in fibrillation. To the point that the issue of bringing forward sales campaigns is destined to influence the dates of fashion fairs and fashion weeks in cascades.

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