PREMIUM AND LUXURY MARKET PERFORMANCE, UPCOMING CHALLENGES AND KEY MEDIUM-TERM ISSUES FOR THE TEXTILE AND ACCESSORIES INDUSTRY
The 37th edition of Milano Unica opens today at Fiera Milano Rho. Milano Unica, one the world’s most important textile and accessories trade shows, will present new content and projects in the three days of the event. From July 11 to July 13, the best selection of high-end textile and accessory companies will showcase their refined and innovative collections for the Fall/Winter 2024-2025 season for the international market of excellence in menswear and womenswear.
Milano Unica has been growing organically each edition thanks to the 403 Italian and 78 foreign participating companies. In addition, there are 81 special areas, for a total of 562 exhibitors who have confirmed their trust in Milano Unica’s mission, expressing unfailing dedication to offering increasingly qualified services and values of excellence.
In this edition, Milano Unica presents a restyling of the booths, which are covered in a material with a contemporary feel and geometry that evokes the texture of fabrics. Visitors will be welcomed by the Creative Sustainability area, featuring a new substance-based approach. All the samples on display present sustainability features. This choice reflects the growing, decisive and steady commitment of the textile and fashion accessories industry, and confirms the excellence of Madein-Italy products in offering increasingly creative content and fine quality while respecting the planet and its inhabitants.
The growing space dedicated to the womenswear proposals expresses the desire for feminine elegance along with contemporary styles. Among the sophisticated proposals of exclusive fabrics, noble yarns, natural blends and fine accessories, the sobriety of hyper technical, essential materials stands out, exuding the charm of timeless luxury. Next to the Creative Sustainability area, featuring the concepts for the upcoming Fall/ Winter 2024/2025 season, Milano Unica presents a new immersive experience, a plunge into the Metaverse.
In collaboration with PwC Italia, visitors will for the first time augment their reality at the trade show in Milano Unica’s Value Hub. Their journey will take them through the emotional rooms that represent the creative processes, ideas and suggestions that human minds generated for the MU Community collections for the coming season.
The 37th edition of Milano Unica also provides for an impressive journey among the industry’s manufacturing excellence and the many special areas of research and insights.
Milano Unica has always been sensitive to the value of education, inclusivity for new generations and for the continuity of the industry. To this end, Milano Unica will host the press conference of Confindustria Moda’s Education Committee on July 12 at 11 a.m.: “Fashion and Accessories: the challenge of training to save Made in Italy production”.
In the current scenario, which is increasingly competitive and subject to strong fluctuations, the Opening Ceremony will address the key issues facing the textile and accessories sector. The event will include an analysis by Claudia D’Arpizio, Senior Partner Fashion and Luxury at Bain & Company, on the performance of the premium and luxury market, and the next challenges the sector will have to face in the medium term.
“I am very pleased with the number of participating companies, especially considering that the selection is of high quality and the creative proposal increasingly qualified. The attendance figures, which have exceeded pre-pandemic levels, represent a great motivation for us to maintain Milano Unica’s standing as an event that international top-buyers looking for sustainable and valuable products choose to attend. This triggers a virtuous circle of demand, which matches an offer that is positioned in the ethical luxury perimeter and Made-in-Italy production. From edition to edition, we see the growth of the high-end women’s offering,” commented Alessandro Barberis Canonico.
After the institutional greetings from Roberto Foresti, Deputy General Manager of Fiera Milano, and Attilio Fontana, President of the Lombardy Region, Alessandro Barberis Canonico, President of Milano Unica, gave an opening speech and then ceded the floor to Claudia D’Arpizio, who shared a number of insights on the industry with the audience.
“The gradual stabilization trend in the textile supply chain is leading brands and retailers to “normalize” their demand for fabrics (vs. the strong growth and order advances recorded in 2022). Meanwhile, the consolidation of the “new formal” and the search for “more essential” style and product connotations are having a significant impact on the types of traditional and functional fabrics most in demand.
The performance of the textile sector will be driven in the medium term by actual consumer market demand. For these reasons we expect, in the second half of 2023, a possible slight decrease in volumes, including also possible postponements in the withdrawal of finished pieces by some brands/retailers following the latter’s need to dispose first of their stocks. 2024 performance will be mainly impacted by pricing decisions that will be made by textile manufacturers (against a stabilization/ reduction in energy and raw material costs, which may, however, be offset by possible increases in labor costs in response to an inflationary macroeconomic scenario).
The medium term will also be characterized by a gradual reduction in production lead times, which should lead to a re-alignment of order collection schedules to the pre-pandemic period, with a return therefore to greater fragmentation (albeit not to the “extreme” pre-Covid 19 assumed levels), and the ability of manufacturers to adapt to the ever-high demand for customization. Tomorrow’s “winners” will be those textile manufacturers who best manage the five key challenges ahead of them: offering an all-round service to customers, continuous innovation, maintaining the post-Covid 19 price ranges, sustaining the supply chain, and attracting and training new talents. The Italian textile supply chain is also experiencing a great opportunity: to leverage its skills and excellence to create an “international” certification standard that enhances integrated sustainability throughout the process,” explained Claudia D’Arpizio and Stefano Fenili, Senior Partner and Partner, respectively, at Bain & Company.
The following speeches by Ercole Botto Poala, President of Confindustria Moda, and Sergio Tamborini, President of Sistema Moda Italia, provided additional insights.
“The textile, fashion and accessories industry knows very well how important the industrial transformation is, one that increasingly involves the implementation of sustainable processes. Teaming up has enabled all industry operators to take important steps forward. For example, concerning circular economy, we have anticipated European legislation in terms of textile waste recycling. However, the road ahead is still long and complex. First, because the rules on what it means to produce sustainably have not yet been defined at the EU level. Therefore, to avoid being passive receivers of others’ decisions, we need to make our voices heard, and we can only do this by working together. Producing in an increasingly sustainable way is a strategic lever that can enable us to gain more and more space in international markets while increasing our attractiveness for investments. It is therefore fundamental to approach the challenge not alone, as individual companies, but united, as a team, capable of producing more than Euro 108 billion in sales in 2022,” added Ercole Botto Poala.
“The textile industry faces in all sectors – luxury, premium and mass market – the upcoming challenges that can be summed up in two key words: digitalization and sustainability. At SMI, we are confident that thanks to innovation we will be able to push new models of production and consumption, but above all circularity, emphasizing the key role played by the supply chain,” explained Sergio Tamborini of Sistema Moda Italia.
Maurizio Forte, Director of the Italian Trade Agency ICE’s Made in Italy Coordination and Promotion Office, closed the round of speeches with a final remark confirming the well-established and fruitful collaboration with Milano Unica.
“The support of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Italian Trade Agency ICE for Milano Unica is of fundamental importance for the textile supply chain, benefiting from the relationship between domestic exhibitors and qualified operators, distributors, and journalists invited from the most promising markets for the success of Made-in-Italy products. In this particular international context, Milano Unica confirms its world leadership position and Italy’s primacy in the production of high-end textiles and accessories. Let me congratulate the organizers for the new graphic skin and the impactful layout, and the increased number of exhibitors compared to last year’s edition, a clear sign of the vitality and growth of the industry,” commented Maurizio Forte.
Erika Andreetta, Partner of PwC Italy, EMEA Fashion & Luxury Leader, who, with Matteo Bonente, Partner and Metaverse Lead of PwC Italia, developed the design of the Metaverse rooms at Milano Unica, presented insights on the potential of the new technologies for the textile and accessories industry.
“Milano Unica’s avatar will be the narrative voice of the 37th edition, inviting visitors to the trade show, updating them on the new products on display and accompanying them during their experience in the Metaverse. 3D settings have been developed for the immersive experience into the trends presented at Milano Unica, going beyond the boundaries of time and space. Visitors will have a chance to navigate Milano Unica’s Metaverse until July 25.”
In greeting and thanking the guests, Alessandro Barberis Canonico introduced the video message sent by the Italian Minister of Business and Made-in-Italy production, Adolfo Urso, who could not attend the ceremony due to pressing institutional commitments.
“I want to take this opportunity to show my growing and deep gratitude for the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Italian Trade Agency ICE Agency for the international promotion and internationalization of Italian enterprises for their contribution in making our event grow every year, with increasingly qualified services and a growing number of international activities. This consolidated alliance does not
only offer an opportunity to grow in perception and attendance numbers, but confirms Milano Unica as a real local landmark in support of quality and global business.
Special thanks go to Banca Sella, a loyal and valuable partner of Milano Unica for many editions and always at the service of our entrepreneurs, and thanks also to Lauretana for its constant support of the event,” concluded Massimo
Mosiello, General Manager of Milano Unica.
