Pitti: Italy goes on the offensive starting with Florence

By

Dominique Muret

Published
Jan 8, 2014

While the key trade fair for men's fashion, Pitti Uomo, just opened its doors in Florence, the organizers and Italian associations have launched an offensive against their competitors, namely other fashion capitals, especially London, which has been encroaching on Pitti Uomo's turf the past few seasons by overlapping its schedule.

Showing off a long sought-after solidarity, the main players of Made in Italy fashion used the opening Pitti Uomo press conference to announce the creation of a new event, "Florence, Hometown of Fashion" for Pitti Uomo's 86 edition, which will be held from June 17 to 20.

The program offers many initiatives and projects, evening parties, exhibitions, concerts and installations, all promoted by an extensive communications campaign.

For the first time, the five large brands born in Florence will participate in Pitti Uomo: Salvatore Ferragamo, Gucci, Roberto Cavalli, Ermanno Scervino and Emilio Pucci, which together are organizing coordinated events in locations that symbolize Florence.
For the trade fair, a prize has also been created for the best Italian and international retailers.

This project was championed by Stefano Ricci, founder of the eponymous luxury brand and president of the Florence Center for Italian fashion (CFMI), which celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2014. This semi-public and private organization, a conglomerate of local institutions and various industry associations, owns Pitti Immagine, the organizer of the Florence trade fairs. It was created in 1954 to promote the development of Italian fashion just as the first Made in Italy runway shows had their debut in Florence.

Supported by the city of Florence, this initiative aims to give greater visibility to Italian fashion in an increasingly competitive environment and will be organized by Pitti Uomo with the support of Ministry of Economic Development and ICE, the Italian foreign trade commission. The Italian government is, in fact, putting up 1.5 million euros for this project.

"Pitti Uomo is the largest investment of this agency this year. Pitti faced great risk from the competition in other countries. We decided to focus on Florence to show the world specifically that Italy remains a great artisan country, both able to maintain its manufacturing while staying creative and avant-garde in the textile and clothing industry," said Carlo Calenda, the Italian vice-minister for economic development.

"This event will be a success, not only for the industry but also for the whole country. This meeting is all the more important since we are in discussions for a crucial agreement on free trade with the United States, in which our textile industry will be the primary beneficiary," said the vice-minister.