The 37th edition of the Unique Milan, the show dedicated to high-end textiles and accessories which, as usual, will populate the spaces of Fiera Milano Rho until Thursday 13 July. In the spotlight will be the autumn/winter 2024-25 proposals aimed at the international market for men and women. The protagonists of the event are 403 Italian and 78 foreign companies, in addition to the 81 special areas for a total of 562 exhibitors present, with a renewed image to evoke the “texture of the fabric”.
The appointment coincides with a chiaroscuro start of 2023, after a 2022 archived with an annual growth of almost 30% for weaving and a sector turnover of 7.9 billion euros. A result that turned out to be substantially in line with the estimates presented at the beginning of the year on the occasion of the latest edition of Milano Unica and which marked the overcoming of pre-Covid levels, albeit with a slight attenuation of the growth rate.
From the first three months of 2023, a critical gap emerges between the export front, characterized by a largely positive trend, and that of imports and domestic production, both in decline. It is a slowdown, observes the Centro Studi di Confindustria Fashion which processed the data, “predictable in many respects”, if one thinks of the strong rebounds following the stoppages of production and international trade caused by the pandemic, and subsequently by the geopolitical and economic crises that have seen raw material costs soar in the background of an inflationary scenario.
In the period between January and March 2023, exports of fabrics recorded a double-digit increase (+13.8%), although they also slowed down compared to the corresponding period of 2022 (which had run at a speed of +46, 2 percent). The export side counterbalanced, in the three months, both the trend of the industrial production of fabrics and that of imports.
According to the index State in industrial production, in fact, orthogonal weaving records a contraction of 19.8% and the production of knitted fabrics decreases by 11.5%, while imports drop by 21.4%, confirming the downward trend already emerged in he last quarter of 2022, recalls the Confindustria Moda observatory. As a result of the divergent trend of imports and exports, in the first quarter of 2023 the sector reached 517 million euros, an increase of approximately 225 million compared to the corresponding period of 2022.
Also noteworthy is the comparison with the first quarter of 2019, which shows growth in both foreign sales (+15.2%) and imports (+7.7 percent); the overrun concerned all product categories with the exception of cotton (-0.7 per cent).
Returning to the comparison on an annual basis, the driving performance of foreign sales was carded and combed wool fabrics (+37.9%) and pure silk fabrics (+19.5 per cent), while the export of linen and knit fabrics are respectively at +14% and +7.1 per cent.
France and Germany, the first and second export markets, grew by 13.7% and 13.5% respectively, while China and Hong Kong, despite the sharp decline in the latter, would take third place. The United States was down, recording a decrease of 12.5 per cent.
Looking at imports, Achilles’ heel for the first quarter of 2023, despite the rise on the pre-pandemic situation, all categories recorded negative changes compared to the corresponding period of 2022, except for woolen fabrics which show a significant increase of 51%, evidently shown to be resilient after a 2022 that had seen them protagonists together with technical fabrics. Silk fabrics, on the other hand, recorded the greatest decline (-31.6 percent).
Meanwhile, the 37th edition of the event looks to the future, placing the emphasis on sustainability and technological innovation. Right next to the ‘Creative Sustainability’ area, characterized by an eco-friendly restyling of the samples present in the area, Milano Unica presents its first entry into the Metaverse, a project created in collaboration PwC Italy and materialized in a “value hub” structured in “emotional rooms” that allows visitors to amplify their experience at the fair.
At the heart of the event’s programme, an ever-widening space dedicated to women’s proposals, already strongly promoted at the last appointment, and the theme of training, explored in particular with the conference of the Education Committee of Confindustria Moda scheduled for tomorrow 12 July from title ‘Fashion and Accessories: the challenge of training for the salvation of Made in Italy’.
“I am very satisfied with the numbers of members – commented the president of the fair Alessandro Barberis Canon – especially considering that the selection of companies present is of high quality and the creative proposal is increasingly qualified. The attendance figures, which have exceeded the pre-pandemic values, are a great motivation to keep Milano Unica an event chosen by international top-buyers, who are looking for sustainable and valuable products. This creates the virtuous circle of demand, satisfied by an offer that is positioned within the perimeter of ethical luxury and Made in Italy production, which sees the growth of high-end women’s proposals at each edition”.