If you want to find the breakthrough names of Japanese menswear right now, look not to Tokyo or Paris, but to Florence. As the 109th edition of Pitti Immagine Uomo kicks off in the Italian city this week, the trade fair has a bumper schedule of runway shows and events from Japanese brands, as organizers respond to the growing influence of the country’s tailoring-focused designers, who are using Pitti as a springboard for international expansion.
With a weak yen making Japanese goods cheaper for foreign tourists, and a growing global appetite for Japanese fashion and culture, many Japanese brands are now primed to go global — Pitti is providing a platform to do so. The timing has inspired a new partnership between Japan Fashion Week Organization (JFWO) and Pitti, with closer collaboration between the two bodies as part of the plan. “We’ve been working with Pitti since 2012, but since last January, we are now official partners,” says Kaoru Imajo, director of JFWO.
The link between Pitti Immagine Uomo and Japanese designers stretches back decades. Yohji Yamamoto (2005), Undercover by Jun Takahashi (2009 and 2018), and LVMH Prize 2023 winner Setchu by Satoshi Kuwata (2025) are all on the laundry list of luminaries who have been part of Pitti in some capacity. This season, however, Japan’s presence looms particularly large.
.jpg)
Yesterday, Japanese organisers brought the event ‘Sebiro Sanpo’, or ‘suit walk’, to Florence, sponsored by Italian mill Vitale Barberis Canonico. More than 100 influencers and members of the public took to the piazzas in their best tailoring — ‘Pitti peacocking’ with a Japanese twist. (Sebiro is the Japanese word for a business suit that is believed to be a corruption of ‘Savile Row’).
Meanwhile, LVMH Prize winner Soshi Otsuki is Pitti’s special guest designer and will show his Armani-inspired tailoring on the runway for the first time outside of Japan on January 15. Alongside Otsuki is whimsical menswear designer Shinya Kozuka, known for his oversized shapes, who will also present his debut international runway show as a ‘special feature’ of Pitti, in partnership with Japan Fashion Week (Paris-based Israeli designer Hed Mayner is also a guest designer).
.jpg)
The week also features the seventh edition of the J-Quality initiative, a showcase focusing on Japanese clothing and production, which includes a selection of Made in Japan manufacturers and the Japanese biotechnology firm Spiber, creators of a brewed protein that can be used to make fabric.
“Every time we have to choose a designer, we look to Japan first,” says Francesca Tacconi, who heads up special projects for Pitti Uomo, including the guest designer shows. “I’ve been reading in every magazine in Italy that the new tailoring is now Japanese. This is surprising, because if you think that Italy is the hometown of tailoring, but there is a new version of tailoring and menswear [coming from Japan] that has real attitude.”
As menswear evolves post-streetwear boom, consumers are seeking new modes of dressing. “[Japanese designers] bring a fresh perspective, proposing alternative ways of dressing that sit outside more conventional menswear codes,” says Noelle Rodrigues, co-founder of London store Future Present, which focuses on Japanese labels (and is currently Shinyakozuka’s sole UK stockist). The brands’ increased visibility, she adds, points to consumer desire for menswear that is less constrained by rigid distinctions, such as tailoring versus streetwear: “It suggests an interesting shift in how menswear is being understood and valued internationally.”
Off the back of his LVMH Prize win, Otsuki is at the centre of the buzz this season. Blending the nostalgia of 1980s Italian tailoring with Japanese details like karate silhouettes and kimono tie-jackets, it presents a fresh case for the suit. “He flips [the suit], turning Made in Italy into his Made in Japan, without copying and pasting the silhouettes from Mr. Armani,” says Tacconi. “This is where fashion has to go, otherwise it’s all about heritage.”
Pitti is priming Japanese labels for scale
For Japanese brands and designers looking to break out of the domestic market, Pitti Uomo provides a crucial next step. It’s particularly pertinent timing for Soshi Otsuki, who, up until recently, was doing much of his direct-to-consumer sales in the US before recent tariff reforms. “We have currently paused shipments to the United States, so the situation there is essentially on hold for now,” says Otsuki, who hopes the Pitti show will secure a few more international accounts outside of the US. That the fair is explicitly menswear is also a draw: “One of the core missions of Soshiotsuki has always been to influence the context of traditional menswear,” says the designer. “In that sense, I don’t think there is a more meaningful or relevant platform than Pitti to present my work.”
Shinyakozuka has similar plans. “Our commercial goals in the next couple of years are to build a proper organization and profit structure that allows us to sustain runway shows in Paris on a continuous basis without excessive financial strain,” says Shimpei Kajiura, the brand’s director. “Pitti is the first strategic step in establishing the brand’s image and credibility in international markets outside Japan.” With Shinyakozuka currently making half of its annual revenue outside Japan, and year-on-year growth of 130% to 150% every year, the brand is primed for a global push.
With many Japanese brands aiming to grow their international stockist roster and eventually present their work in Paris or Milan, the support and exposure that Pitti provides make for a sensible first step into Europe. The event often partially or fully covers the show expenses for its guests. “Getting onto the [official] Paris schedule is not easy, so Pitti is one of the faster ways for a brand to get there,” says Imajo. “People from the Federation de la Haute Couture et de la Mode [FHCM, the organisers of PFW] come here to see what’s going on.”
Setchu’s Satoshi Kuwata, the Kyoto-born designer who made his runway debut at Pitti Uomo 107 last January, says the fair provided a “great motivation” for his team. Although casting is challenging (it generally happens in Milan before bringing models to Pitti), the platform was worth it. “Firenze is a small city, so the exposure was impressive; we increased awareness of the brand almost overnight,” he says. Since the Pitti show, Setchu has consistently shown in Milan, where the brand is based, and has expanded new store openings by 30%, entering new markets including Spain, Turkey, and the Philippines.
For his part, Kozuka plans to use Pitti to test and learn, with the view of eventually showing in Paris. “I’m very excited and curious to see how my sensibility, my vision, and the scenery I try to depict are perceived by people here,” says the designer. “More than anything, I want to learn from that reaction.”
The smaller scale of the event also means more opportunity to stand out. For Otsuki, the time to draw attention is now. “While in the long term I hope to present runway shows regularly in Paris or Milan, I do not see the show as a step toward Paris,” says Otsuki. “I am approaching it with the mindset that this single show could change my life.”
Correction: This article was updated to change the year Setchu won the LVMH Prize from 2024 to 2023.
