Pitti Uomo, exports return positive driven by Europe and the United States

The Italian men's fashion industry is weathering the stormy winds and is preparing for the Pitti Uomo fair, from 16 to 19 June in Florence, to measure the sector's ability to adapt to new market requirements. In 2025, exports - which in men's fashion account for more than 77% of turnover - fell in value by 1.7% to less than Euro 9.4 billion, due to the effect of the drop in Germany (-4.6%), China (-13.1%), Switzerland (-14.1%), Hong Kong (-3.1%) and South Korea (-18.7%), according to Confindustria Moda estimates based on Istat data. On the other hand, exports to Europe are growing, starting from the first outlet market, represented by France (+3.5%), and the USA is growing (+3.5%), now the second destination of Italian companies. Among the exported products, clothing is holding up, knitwear and shirts are dropping, while leather clothing is soaring (+9.1%). After the contraction in 2024, imports of men's fashion also started to grow again last year (+2%), reaching Euro 6.6 billion.

All in all, 2025 closed with a weak but not too alarming result, which must, however, be improved. "We are confident about the performance of the summer fair and we are ready for the new challenges: all the major buyers have confirmed their presence in Florence and this comforts us," explained Antonio de Matteis, president of Pitti Immagine, the company that organises the events, presenting the 110th edition of the world's leading men's fashion fair together with the company's top management at the Feltrinelli Foundation in Milan.

720 brands, 44% of them foreign (arriving from 30 countries), will be exhibiting their spring-summer 2027 collections in the pavilions of the Fortezza da Basso, with the aim of attracting around 12 thousand buyers. The uncertainties are mainly related to flights from the East and the presence of Middle Eastern buyers.

The complex phase being experienced by the fashion industry, and the Italian economy in general, has imposed a series of countermeasures. The strongest of these is the strengthening of the incoming programme financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ice Agency, which allows international buyers to be hosted at the show: 'Given the difficulties in the sector in 2025,' explained Ice's Director General, Lorenzo Galanti, 'we will bring more qualified buyers from abroad, both from traditional and emerging markets, especially from Asia.

The number of Pitti's summer fairs (Uomo, Bimbo and Filati) will rise from the 300 initially planned to 450. "It is a necessary job to face this phase of profound change," explained Raffaello Napoleone, Pitti Immagine's managing director for international and institutional relations. In the role of managing director there has been for a few weeks Ivano Cauli, a past as a digital entrepreneur that he wants to enhance: "We are building an innovation office that will serve to guide, advise, help exhibitors and shopkeepers to orient themselves in the new technologies, which are often difficult to handle for those who are small and have to deal with everything. The logic will be to provide a service. We won this position with difficulty, now we aim to maintain our leadership".