Italian trade shows mull pushing back next session’s dates
Negotiations are well under way between the Italian fashion industry’s various representative bodies to reschedule a winter show session that is increasingly at risk. At the end of October, the Italian government introduced new measures prohibiting trade shows, fairs and conferences until December 3, when the ban is set to be revoked or extended, and Italy’s fashion authorities are keen to take pre-emptive action. Notably, Pitti Uomo is reportedly ready to announce a one-month postponement.
The benchmark menswear show, which usually opens the season, is currently scheduled in Florence on January 12-14, and might be pushed back to February. An executive committee meeting of Pitti Uomo’s organiser, Pitti Immagine, was planned for Tuesday night, to decide on the postponement, which is expected to be announced soon. In parallel, the organiser indicated that its Pitti Connect website will remain active for the whole year.
Carlo Capasa, president of the Italian Fashion Chamber (CNMI), has told FashionNetwork.com that the next editions of the Milan Fashion Week will be held in January for menswear and February for womenswear, no matter what. “We remain aligned with the Parisian fashion weeks, and we will once again adopt a phygital format. We will assess nearer the time how digital [Milan’s] forthcoming editions are going to be, based on the situation. It will be up to individual labels to decide whether they prefer to stage catwalk shows or not,” said Capasa.
“It's important that the collections are presented on those dates, otherwise labels won’t have enough time to initiate production. We will continue with a hybrid programme featuring both menswear and womenswear collections, though the former will prevail in January and the latter in February,” explained Capasa.
Massimiliano Bizzi, boss of the White Milano show, confirmed that his event is planned to be held in February, during the Milan Fashion Week, but kept open the option of postponing the dates to March: “If the situation won’t allow us to stage a physical event welcoming in total safety at least 5,000 buyers, as was the case in September, then we will adopt plan B, and we will push the dates back to March.”
At the end of October, Bizzi publicly called for an extraordinary winter show session to be staged on more suitable dates, and has once again appealed to the Italian fashion industry’s leading players to heed his call and begin negotiations for a revised calendar.
“We are urging for dialogue to continue between all show organisers. The goal is to help Italian fashion companies, which need to hold out now before finding new impetus in September, by enabling buyers to view the maximum number of collections in one single session,” said Bizzi.
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