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As consumers focus more on quality, brands are exploring ways to communicate their craftsmanship, heritage, innovation and cultural relevance. This week, the exhibitors at Italian trade show Pitti Uomo rewrote the playbook, as the fair evolves to become more interactive and communicate the stories behind the clothes.
Guess Jeans presented a vast exhibition and showroom space in the fair’s main piazza to demonstrate its AirWash denim treatment, which claims to reduce waste and water consumption. Throughout the space, the walls told the Guess Jeans rebrand story and broke down the composition of garments.
“Europe is by far our biggest market and Pitti is one of the last platforms to exist that’s product orientated,” says Nicolai Marciano, the Guess scion who took the helm as chief new business development officer at the company in 2023 and relaunched the Guess Jeans brand last year. “People come to Pitti to learn, listen, touch and feel products. It’s less transactional or superficial than regular fashion week.”
Elsewhere, responsible Spanish outerwear label Ecoalf broke down the composition of its various outerwear products along the walls of its large showroom in the piazza, also providing an in-depth timeline of the brand since its launch in 2009 to explain its brand story and commitment to responsibility. Outside of the fair, Ferragamo held a presentation to celebrate its Tramezza men’s shoe, with an artisan demonstrating how to produce the style.
While quality and heritage is paramount, Raffaello Napoleone, CEO of Pitti Uomo organiser Pitti Immagine, notes that brands seemed more conscious about consumer sensitivity when it comes to price this season. “Many price lists reflect a balanced relationship between properly valuing materials and craftsmanship and aligning with the cautious approach currently expressed by consumers.”
The four-day trade show, which started on 14 January, attracted 770 exhibitors, two guest designers and several big parties. By the halfway point, it had seen 12,800 buyers, including 4,700 international buyers — up 6 per cent on last year.
Amid the slowdown, building cultural relevance is crucial to winning market share with discerning Gen Z shoppers. And large-scale parties, while expensive to throw, are a smart way to boost cultural associations, via VIP guests and music performances. Guess Jeans held a 5,000-capacity techno rave on Wednesday night in a vast warehouse space on the fringes of Florence to celebrate its latest campaign starring music artist (and son of Oasis star Liam Gallagher) Gene Gallagher along with model and poet Kai-Isiah Jamal (both of whom were in attendance). Open to the public, with queues snaking round the block, it was one of the largest brand activations Pitti has seen in recent memory. On Tuesday, Brunello Cucinelli held a sophisticated dinner, while across town Milan retailer Slam Jam held a party at the opulent Palazzo Borghese, DJ’ed by its founder Luca Benini.
Pitti’s guest designers took their time
In some ways, Pitti is a unique trade show in the fashion landscape. The guest designer slots — which have previously been occupied by icons like Giorgio Armani (1979), Dries Van Noten (1995) and Raf Simons (2005) — and the event’s proximity to Milan Fashion Week Men’s attracts fashion press and buyers that may not attend other trade shows. “Pitti provides the platform and space to showcase a collection in a standout way,” says Jordan Duddy, fashion editor at menswear magazine AnOther Man. “At Pitti, the press coverage isn’t drowned out like it may be in other fashion cities with 10 shows a day, so brands really elevate themselves when they are selected to showcase here.”
In the guest designer slot, Maison Margiela’s MM6 held its first menswear-only show since its launch in 1997. Held in the ornate, white greenhouse that is Tepidarium Giacomo Roster, with a standing crowd, the show was a nod to ’90s sleazy club culture, soundtracked by Pulp song ‘This Is Hardcore’. “It’s really important to think about what we want to say with the menswear on its own,” said MM6’s anonymous creative team hours before the show. “Menswear has been so much about streetwear for so many years that we want to make it fashion again, real clothes-making.”
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“MM6 Maison Margiela brought the entertainment,” says Mr Porter buying director Daniel Todd. “They set the scene for partywear with sharp and thematic suiting, brimming with glossy leather and velvet effects.”
The show was slower than usual, with models lithely dancing around the elevated runways. “We said to the show callers, ‘Team, this doesn t need to be nine minutes. It can be 18 minutes,’” said the MM6 creative team. “With Pitti people have more time. Let’s take time. Let’s allow people to enjoy the clothes.”
Second guest designer Setchu took a similar approach. The Japanese designer and LVMH Prize 2023 alum made his runway debut with a show in Florence’s elaborate national library, followed by a presentation and drinks reception, to allow the fashion community to get to know his brand. The exhibition featured toiles, his brand packaging, raw materials and the broken-up toys, which inspire his work. “I don’t want to do a fashion show that you can see in Paris, London or Milan,” he told Vogue Business ahead of the show. “What’s the point? Pitti is a place where people can take their time because you don’t have to run to the next show.”
In terms of trends, the Pitti guest designer shows (and the stands at the fair) are the first signals for what the men’s season may look like. “As always there’s been a heavy focus on tailoring and sartorial pieces. A continued push for quality, artisanal production and leather also seems to be a trend with a lot of leather outerwear, accessories and more experimental leather pieces,” Duddy says. “’80s and ’90s silhouettes still seem to be a strong trend going into Autumn/Winter 2025.”
A focus on innovation
Alongside more traditional clothing stands, Pitti hosted scores of new innovation businesses for the first time this edition, presenting solutions for manufacturing and merchandising.
Tech-enabled brand Beyond Tailoring made its debut with a large-scale installation in the main building, demonstrating to buyers how bespoke suits could be 3D modelled, laser cut and assembled before their eyes. Nearby, digital fashion and augmented reality firm FabriX also exhibited for the first time, showing brands the potential of its AR try-on mirrors and scannable RFID patches for clothing that can take you to the brand’s Instagram or website.
Buyers showed a lot of interest in the AR mirrors, said FabriX marketing executive Winnie Cho, while demonstrating how a user could try-on garments. FabriX has collaborated with emerging brands such as Paolina Russo and Pronounce to create virtual garments that demonstrate the technology to the fashion community.
Also in the main pavilion, Japanese air-conditioned clothing brand Hidesign made its Pitti debut in order to push its Airflow jackets (that keep you cool with interior fans) to Western buyers.
The sports domination continues
Fashion’s obsession with sport continued at Pitti this season. While last edition focused on tennis, this time we saw an injection of new and old sports brands.
Dean Walker, sports and energy director at End, noted Pitti’s ‘Knees Up Running Space’, from London-based running store Knees Up, as a highlight. “It wasn’t just about selling [running] products to buyers, it was about bringing together different brands that are both new and well known, all celebrating running as a way of life and its current trend within the fashion landscape,” he says. Knees Up hosted a Pitti run for attendees on Wednesday morning.
“I love how running culture has become a big part of fashion over the years — we know our customers love it too, especially after the sell-out success of On x Loewe,” says Todd. “So it was cool to see the Knees Up space travel from London to Pitti to showcase a curation of brands that are exploring contemporary design for running purposes.”
Elsewhere at the fair, basketball heritage label Champion presented a vast exhibition and showroom off Pitti’s main piazza, again underlining the importance of brand storytelling to secure stockists and drive loyalty in the current climate. Entitled ‘Champion, Portrait’, the multi-room exhibition was designed to communicate the brand’s history and show off its latest products.
Football fans rejoiced on Tuesday, when Portuguese footballing legend Luís Figo hit the fair to introduce his year-old casualwear label LF Luis Figo, featuring denim, relaxed tailoring and sneakers. “The global interest in the fusion of sports and fashion is constantly growing, with consumers looking for garments that reflect their dynamic personality and active lifestyle,” Figo says. “Pitti Uomo represents a platform to showcase the brand to a selected international audience.”
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