“According to the exhibitors, albeit a sample group of the same, this edition exceeded expectations” says Raffaello Napoleone, CEO of Pitti Immagine “and was characterized by the importance of the Italian and foreign visitors as well as the very high level of research and experimentation contained in the collections presented, an incentive and a source of inspiration for all. At times of growth or in periods of readjustment for the market and consumption, such as this, Pitti Filati is truly the only unmissable rendezvous for the big names in fashion and the best knitting mills. And that is not what we, the organizers, are saying, but the members of the trade attending. Pitti Filati is where the entire fashion chain starts, its zeitgeist: the materials, the technological innovations, the colors, the feel, the combinations, the disciplined dialogue between free creativity and frontiers of production. All of this is the result of the commitment and investment of the yarn manufacturers exhibiting in the Fortezza da Basso”.
“It is quite astonishing to skim through the list of buyers representing the knitting mills and, above all, the style bureaus” continues Agostino Poletto, General Manager “it is like reading the calendar of the London, Milan, Paris and New York catwalk shows, all together… For this reason, in a 2019 which is so tough for the economy and international trade and, unfortunately, for our country in particular, we are decidedly satisfied with the numerical results as well which confirmed the foreign data with regard to the figures for 2018 (completing three years of constant growth in attendance) and a modest decrease in Italian buyers. On our part we try to make sure that the fair is also an occasion for reflecting on the protagonists of recent fashion knitwear history – the exhibition dedicated to Pour Toi together with Modateca Deanna was a great success – and a platform for promoting new talents, for example with the Feel the Yarn competition which marked its tenth edition thanks to the collaboration with the Consorzio Promozione Filati and the best fashion schools in the world. Without forgetting the initiatives dedicated to the theme of sustainability – like the new Sustainable area – the new feature which, this year, also saw the involvement of a giant of luxury like Salvatore Ferragamo with its Young Talents for Sustainable Thinking project, and the always experimental work of Angelo Figus and Nicola Miller in the Spazio Ricerca”.
Looking at the final attendance data over the three days of Pitti Filati (Florence, 26-28 June 2019), there were almost 5,350 buyers in total. The foreign buyers confirmed their numbers (there were around 2,900 international buyers) while the Italian buyers fell slightly, in the order of 5-6% (down around 150 compared to June 2018).
Heading the ranking of the 15 key foreign countries was France (264 buyers) followed by Germany (260), United Kingdom (260), United States (217), Japan (186), Russia (124), China (115), Spain (102), Turkey (95),
Switzerland (89), Hong Kong (83), Netherlands (67), South Korea (61), Sweden (49) and Belgium (45).
In the Fortezza, on the morning of Friday 28 June, in front of the big audience that had gathered around the kids in competition, the winners of the tenth edition of Feel The Yarn were declared which, for this anniversary, was rechristened The X Contest. This is the competition dedicated to supporting and promoting young knitwear creatives organized by the Consorzio Promozione Filati with the support of the Fondazione Pitti Immagine Discovery. The creations of Camilla Conti of Polimoda, Florence stood out among the proposals by the 26 students selected from 15 of the most prestigious international fashion institutions in 11 different countries. With particular creativity and technical skill she interpreted the yarns produced by Linsieme Filati, Montemurlo (Prato), winning a € 5,000 scholarship to be used as a grant for registering on the Creative Knitwear Designer Master’s course run by Modateca Deanna and the Accademia Costume & Moda.
Here are the winners of the other prizes awarded by the competition’s partner companies at this edition which consist of paid internships in their style offices: Alba Arillo of the ESNE school received the award from Biella Yarn by SuedWolle for her use of the yarns of Botto Giuseppe; Olatz Altuna Zapirain also from ESNE, used yarns by IGEA and won the prize awarded by Trafi; Viktorija Mineikyte from the Irish school NCAD won the Prize from Fabiana Filippi for her creations with yarns by Industria Italiana Filati; Jenni Gibson of the Royal College of Art worked with Filmar yarns and received the Prize awarded by JNBY; and finally Maddie Sellers of the University of Brighton won the Prize awarded by Liu Jo for her knitwear creations realized with Pinori Filati yarns.
