NEW YORK — Business may be a bit challenged, particularly for department stores, but Raffaello Napoleone is confident that the 107th edition of Pitti Uomo will still be a big draw.
The chief executive officer of Pitti Immagine, parent of Pitti Uomo, kicked off his global travels to promote the fall/winter ’25 edition of the show with a luncheon in New York at Ci Siamo, an Italian restaurant in the Manhattan West development near Hudson Yards.
Napoleone said he hasn’t received any pushback from buyers on the date of the next show, which will run from Jan. 14 to 17 in Florence. Doing it any earlier, he said, would have been too close to the Epiphany, a holy day in Italy, and the start of the new year.
He started his remarks with an update on Italian exports, which he said were doing well in other European countries, but not as well in other areas, particularly China and Bangladesh. “The Italian raw material producers of leather, yarns and fabrics are suffering,” he said. “They used to always have a lot of orders in advance, but today is completely different. I don’t know what will happen in the next few months but 2024 is the toughest year after COVID.”
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He said part of the problem is the struggles of multibrand retailers, some of whom are making major changes. He singled out the Italian department store Rinascente, which is converting to a concession model, a strategy being employed by other department stores as well.
But monobrand stores such as Herno, which recently opened a new flagship on Madison Avenue in New York, are bucking the trend, he said. “Direct retailing is performing well.”
With that as the backdrop, the January edition of Pitti Uomo will showcase 786 brands, 45 percent of which are international, he said.
The theme of this season’s show is fire, an “unexpected” choice, he said, but one that is apropos of the season. “Fire is magical in the winter,” he said. “It’s hypnotic and magnetic, like energy.”
There will be two featured designers at the upcoming show, as reported: MM6 Maison Margiela, which is creating a special collection to show at Pitti Uomo, and Satoshi Kuwata of Setchu, who will hold his first runway show in Florence.
As always, there will be five sections: Fantastic Classic, Futuro Maschile, Dynamic Attitude, Superstyling and I Go Out.
Within the I Go Out section will be a new addition called Knees Up Running Space. This area, created in partnership with the London-based Knees Up, a multifunctional space at the intersection of fashion, running and events, will feature several active sports brands targeted to men. They are Alex Zono, Kuta Distance L.AB, Nnormal, Portal, Raide Research, Soar, Tiempos and Unna.
“The running space is working very, very well with women,” Napoleone said, “but a little less in menswear.” And by showcasing some lesser-known names, that trend may be reversed, he believes.
He also singled out several other special areas including China Wave, a collection of contemporary Chinese menswear brands; Scandinavian Manifesto, which features a collection of brands from that part of the world, and J Quality, a project curated by the Japan Apparel and Fashion Industry Association to highlight clothing, textile and production from that country.
Other highlights, he said, will include some returning brands including RRD, Superga and Sebago, Mackintosh and Rag & Bone as well as new additions: G-Star, Guess Man, AlphaTauri, a lifestyle brand founded by Red Bull, and Stuart Weitzman, which will launch its men’s shoes at Pitti.
The change in dates by Pitti, which will kick off the fall season, has thrown a monkey wrench into the American men’s market. Following Pitti will be Milan Men’s Fashion Week, which will be Jan. 17 to 21, and Paris Men’s Fashion Week, from Jan. 21 to 26. Those dates overlap with the traditional dates of the New York men’s market, causing angst among trade show operators and multibrand showrooms who are being forced to adjust their dates as well.
