Another record-breaking edition of Pitti Immagine Uomo has just come to an end at the Fortezza da Basso (Florence, 12-15 January 2016): a record breaker in terms of the companies attending (1,219 protagonist brands), as well as the figures for the buyers, press and members of the trade who visited over the four days of the event. The final attendance figures confirm the trend registered during the fair: a total number of buyers that nearly reached 24,800 (+4%compared to one year ago), 8,800 of which from abroad (+2.5%) and16,000 Italians (+5%). The total number of visitors was 36,000.
The great international success of this edition in terms of attendance – which indicates, above all, a success in terms of the quality of the buyers, the best boutiques and department stores in the world – was driven by the double digit growth of almost all the European markets, Germany (+14%), Spain (+20%), Holland (+14%), United Kingdom (+9%), Switzerland (+12%), Belgium (+17%), and France (despite a small drop in attendance, the number of stores rose by +3.5%), the whole group of countries from Northern Europe (including Denmark +7% and Finland +37%), (Iceland almost doubled the number of buyers) to which we should add the excellent results from Ireland (+50%), the Baltic countries and the Ukraine (+34%). There was also significant growth from the United States which, in terms of the number of stores, rose by +8%; Japan confirmed its high figures as did Korea and there was a rise in the number of buyers from Taiwan; there were also good performances from the United Arab Emirates, Australia and Brazil.
Naturally, in absolute terms, strategic markets like China, Russia and Turkey still occupied the first 20 market positions, however, due to various, well known reasons, they recorded a slight fall with respect to past editions.
“We are very pleased with this edition of Pitti Uomo,” says Raffaello Napoleone, CEO of Pitti Immagine, “because of the extremely positive atmosphere you could feel around the stands and see on the faces of all the protagonists. There were lots of new ideas in the collections presented by our exhibitors, as well as in the highly popular special events held around town as well as in the Fortezza. Many new projects were also announced in the course of this edition, from the new Tutorship project that Pitti Immagine is dedicating to young designers, to the institutional agreement between the Fondazione Discovery and the Uffizi Gallery, and much more. We are looking to the future with confidence and in the knowledge that Florence and Pitti Uomo continue to be the top places to be on the map of world fashion”.
The Top 20 foreign markets were: Germany (932), Japan (841 buyers),Spain (758) United Kingdom (639), Turkey (557), Holland (529), France(468), China (396), Switzerland (389), Belgium (307), United States (282),South Korea (278), Austria (184), Russia (182), Sweden (172), Greece(158), Portugal (150), Denmark (127), Norway (86) and Canada (74).
