Pitti W_Woman Precollection - Women's Fashion Fair 2010

The 76th edition of Pitti Uomo (Florence, 12-15 January 2010) closed at the Fortezza da Basso with a rise in attendance figures: 23,360 buyers came to Florence – an increase of over 3% versus the 22,672 buyers at the last winter edition – and the total number of visitors attending was over 30,000.

“These are important figures”, says Raffaello Napoleone, CEO of Pitti Immagine, “that show a change of trend following the difficulties experienced by international fashion in recent months and seasons.  The buyers visiting the Fortezza appreciated all the hard work the exhibitors had put in to presenting their new collections which were packed with high stylistic content, real product and image; the new layout of the Main Pavilion, designed by Patricia Urquiola, was a great success, particularly the new Pop Up Stores with their innovative way of proposing a unique selection of new men’s lifestyle accessories.  There was also a huge amount of press and TV interest over the four days of the event, a presence of successful up-and-coming new talents and glamorous special events, all of which ensured that Florence was infused with the all-encompassing energy of fashion.  There was a real air of recovery at Pitti Uomo: a wave which, we believe, will be long-lasting and will positively affect industrial production and final consumption over the next few months”.

Looking more closely at the attendance figures, there were 16,258 Italian buyers (+ 4.2% versus January 2009), and over 7,100 foreign buyers, another slight increase, albeit more modest, despite a number of airline flights being cancelled due to bad weather.  The figures for the United States were very good (returning above the 200 buyer mark), Russia (+ 14%), Spain (+ 11%), France, China and Hong Kong, Turkey, Korea, Denmark, and Norway.  The number of visitors from Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom fell slightly