Clouds over Italian textiles, which will lose 11% by 2023. But companies are working on recovery

The warning light had already come on in recent days, when a leading manufacturer of fancy yarns such as the Tuscan Lineapiù announced the opening of negotiations with the trade unions to apply solidarity contracts to 150 employees. The aim is to reduce labour costs at a time of shrinking orders and turnover. And in fact, on the eve of the 95 edition of the Pitti Filati trade fair (25-27 June at the Fortezza da Basso in Florence), the picture of the sector shows areas of difficulty, after two years of growth following the Covid. In addition to the international tensions, there is the slowdown in the fashion sector, which is struggling with full warehouses and shops.

In 2023 the turnover of the Italian wool, cotton and linen spinning industry contracted by 11% in value, dropping below 2.9 billion euros (2,886 million according to the final estimates of Sistema Moda Italia); exports also decreased (-12% to 868 million) as did imports (-17.2% to 938 million), with the exception of wool yarns. The year 2024 has not dispelled the clouds hanging over the Italian spinning industry, with declines in production and turnover in the first quarter (the Istat industrial production index on spinning is -5.7%) and also in exports (-13.3%) and imports (-28.3%).

At Pitti Filati there will be 82 knitting yarn brands (of which 16 from abroad) presenting - a year and a half in advance - their collections for Autumn-Winter 2025-2026, together with companies from the textile machinery, washing, embroidery, finishing, cutting, design software, knitting mills and logistics sectors, for a total of 142 brands. The idea is that the show, devoted to creativity and the definition of future trends, will be a meeting point for all operators working with yarns.

Companies located in the textile districts of Prato and Biella dominated the fair. The Prato district, in particular, brought 31 manufacturers to nearby Florence, specialising in high-end fancy yarns. The district, marked (also) by last November's floods that affected important yarns companies, in the first quarter of the year had a drop in production of 6.5% compared to the same period in 2023 and a drop in exports of 13%. When compared to the last quarter of last year, however, the numbers show 'a decisive reaction', says Confindustria Toscana nord, speaking of resilience albeit 'in a context of a slowdown'.

The problem, rather, is that the second quarter marked a significant contraction in orders common to the entire high-end textile sector,' add the industrialists of Prato, 'due also to the need to dispose of the substantial stockpiles that have accumulated: "A situation that remains complex, with many shadows but also with a strong and deep-rooted confidence of companies in their own resources and in their ability to intercept the signs of reversal as soon as they appear.