Postponed Pitti Uomo show to be staged with Pitti Filati, Bimbo in February
Pitti Uomo has pushed back the dates of its forthcoming winter edition by five weeks. As anticipated by FashionNetwork.com, the leading menswear trade show, originally scheduled on January 12-14, will instead be held on February 21-23. The event will once again be staged in physical format, in the wake of the cancellation of its summer session due to the pandemic.
However, in an unprecedented departure from the norm, it will be held for the first time in parallel with the two other key Florentine fashion shows, Pitti Bimbo and Pitti Filati, dedicated respectively to childrenswear and textile yarns.
“Considering the ongoing health emergency in Italy and worldwide, and the restrictive measures introduced by the Italian government, the board of directors has discussed and approved the three shows’ postponement to February 21-23, concentrating the shows’ activity and their related special events at the Fortezza da Basso-Stazione Leopolda venues,” in other words the two main locations in Florence that usually host Pitti Immagine events. The announcement was made by the show organiser in a press release, following an extraordinary meeting of its board on the evening of Tuesday November 17.
After a season that was entirely digital, the Pitti shows are therefore adopting an unusual physical multi-event format, positioned on the calendar just ahead of the Milan Fashion Week Women. Italy is currently in the midst of a second lockdown, and its government has banned all international trade fairs until December 3. Show organiser Pitti Immagine therefore had too little leeway to be able to stage a physical show in January in satisfactory conditions.
“We have also been urged by exhibitors and buyers to allow them more time to present their collections and organise their trips to Florence, while they also emphasised the need to have productive face-to-face contact again,” said Claudio Marenzi, president of Pitti Immagine. The show organiser's decision was based on three criteria: “Positioning [the shows] at a commercially useful time, preserving the identity of each of the shows and broadcasting a strong signal to the fashion industry.”
Pitti Immagine will notably enable exhibitors to start their sales campaigns digitally ahead of the show, via the Pitti Connect website. “It will truly be a special edition of the Pitti shows,” said General Manager Agostino Poletto. A major challenge for the Florentine organisers, who will have to “concentrate the Uomo, Bimbi and Filati shows in a single time window, preserving each show’s specific features, while working across two different venues and simultaneously giving everything a digital dimension.” This special Pitti session will also “feature an intense programme of fashion events and presentations.”
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