Small Pittis will grow. The president of the Florentine exhibition authority, Claudio Marenzi (right in the photo Imagoeconomica) believes that the men’s event, which ended on Friday, June 17, at the Fortezza da Basso, is unlikely to return to pre-pandemic levels any time soon. That is: to get at least 1,200 brands to exhibit. It won’t happen, he says, because the pandemic has changed the world. So, he launches the arrival of a new trade fair dedicated to outdoor and leisure that will debut between 2023 and 2024. Moreover, Marenzi does not believe in a return of production to Italy that does not belong to luxury.
We have changed too
Pitti Uomo is experiencing its rebirth after the editions negatively marked by the pandemic. Around 650 brands were present at the Fortezza da Basso in Florence, many more than the 400 of a year ago (Uomo and Bimbo, unified), but a lot less than the 1,200 of the pre-Covid years. Then, in an interview with Corriere Fiorentino, Claudio Marenzi admits the following. “At least not in the medium term” there will be no return to those levels. “The world has changed and it is not certain that it will return to the way it was before, and consequently we have changed as well,” he says, citing the success of the E-Pitti platform.
New small Pittis
Consequently, Marenzi announces that the Florentine fair will raise its positioning “by working more and more on selection and quality. You will no longer see a Pitti with over 1,000 exhibitors. But a Pitti where selection, research and contamination of styles and countries will be more and more accurate, and where buyers will come at a stroke”. As a result, some current Pitti Uomo exhibitors will have another event at their disposal. “Between 2023 and 2024, as soon as we are ready, we will start a fair related to outdoor and leisure. Why? It is the sector that is growing the most,” Marenzi continues.
About reshoring
Marenzi concludes by talking about reshoring. “For the moment, the conditions are not in place. Labour costs are too high. This process has been started, and is only working in the luxury sector. In order to work on reshoring also for the lower end of the range, we need government intervention on the defiscalisation of labour costs”.
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