The most important men’s fashion fair in the world, Pitti Uomo, returns from 14 to 17 June at the Fortezza da Basso. Third edition since the post-lockdown, another step towards pre-Covid normality: the brands that present the collections for spring-summer 2023 in attendance rise to 640, of which about a hundred new, 38% arriving from abroad.
More selection for a quality offer
Although still far from the pre-pandemic levels (1,200 brands), the organizers of Pitti Immagine underline how the selection activity has continued: “The fair open to all no longer works, even in this phase it is necessary to evaluate the requests of the companies that want to participate. to build a quality offer », explains the president Claudio Marenzi, presenting fair number 102 in Milan with the top management of Pitti Immagine. Compared to the past, small and research brands have increased and the lifestyle offer increases, but the mix of small / large and emerging / established brands remains, flanked by events inside and outside the Fortezza, characteristic of the Pitti fairs.
Asian and Russian buyers will be missing
“We no longer want to talk about restarting – everyone says -, but about a new gear”. The pandemic will still be felt on the supply side (there are no Japanese, for example, who in the past counted 100-150 exhibitors) and there will be no Asian and Russian buyers: “We do not expect the average 20,000 operators of the past – he explained Raffaello Napoleone, CEO of Pitti Immagine -, but we hope to reach 15 thousand. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ICE continue to support us in hosting buyers: those arriving from Russia cannot be financed with public money, but if someone asks to come on their own, we are happy to welcome them ».
The challenges for the menswear supply chain
Three unknown factors weigh on the market prospects of the men’s fashion industry, after a brilliant start to the year: the war in Ukraine, which undermined the climate of consumer confidence and caused exports to Russia (equal to 3% of the total); the lockdown of China, which is worrying the big brands exposed to that country; the turbulence of the companies upstream of the supply chain, which are suffering from the increase in energy, logistics and raw material costs and also their scarce availability, “In the coming years we will have to think about whether to bring upstream production close to home – added Marenzi -. For a long time we thought “first we sell, then we will find a way to produce”. In the future we will have to change our approach and think “if I want to sell, I have to understand how to produce”. We have to integrate upstream and downstream of our work, great challenges await us to redesign the system ».
On the 2022 trend, Marenzi is however optimistic: “At the end of the year we will return to pre-Covid levels, closing the 5% gap that remained at the end of 2021, although perhaps we will not do it as brilliantly as we had imagined months ago: much will depend on China, the largest unknown”.