Whether it is a new up-and-comer from Los Angeles, a peculiar designer from Japan, or worldwide recognized Italian stylist, leather is a must-have for every collection. The different propositions at Pitti Uomo, for the 2018 summer collection saw a growing usage of leather. Everyone, in various ways, is trying to show the specific characteristics of their materials such as naturalness, craftsmanship, feel, and softness. Regarding shoes, sneakers are the ultimate medium when experimenting on the upper such as: “hairy suade”, by Superga and Diemme, (Onè di Fonte, near Treviso); embroided ones made 100% of leather and rounded rubber by the new brand streetwear by Gianfranco Villegas. Every brand is focusing on hand-made products, on the naturalness of the leather, like for example the American designers of the Collegium brand (Los Angeles), that choose vegetable-tanned-leather from Tuscany. The trend is present in clothing as well, as leather is gaining a lot of traction and it is being used for “biker jackets”. Some are hand-painting the clothing items, such as Domrebel (Montreal); or Backlash (Tokyo), brand that uses lamb leather, or washed calf, or even real alligator and python leather; embroidered leather with studs by Religion (UK); or colored as murals, by the Italian designers of Bad Deal. The uniqueness of the hand-made aspect, together with custom-made products, are attributing more and more value to leather, making it a precious material. “Who said that you don’t get any new business at Pitti? We managed to get a few orders in”. These are the words of Paola Gecchele from calzaturificio Sartori Spa, located in San Giovanni Ilarone, (Verona), who participated in the exposition Pitti Uomo with the brand Sartori Gold. “The fair went really well, even if yesterday less visitors came in comparison to the first two days. At the expositions were also present many foreigners, (Russia, Norther European countries, USA, and South Korea), while the number of Italian visitors was slightly lower.
Pitti Uomo has concluded and leather is mostly natural
