FINAL FIGURES OF PITTI IMMAGINE FILATI 83
Pitti Filati 83 fully expressed the research and great quality of the best international yarn manufacturers. Good vibrations from the Fortezza da Basso confirm a positive trend in this energetic edition of the tradeshow.
The high figures for foreign buyers already recorded at the last edition were confirmed with positive performances from Russia and Eastern Europe, Turkey, China, The Netherlands, Hong Kong, South Korea and countries in Northern Europe. And another good news: Italy has also started growing again (+5%). Almost 5,500 buyers in total at this edition.
Pitti Filati 83 (Florence, June 27-29, 2018) ended at the Fortezza da Basso in an atmosphere of shimmering vivacity, with the best global buyers eager to discover the spinning collections’ latest ideas and the upcoming trends for the next seasons.
“The huge amount of work dedicated to research and the strong investment in innovation by our companies brought significant results at this edition” says Raffaello Napoleone, CEO of Pitti Immagine, “this was demonstrated by the presence at the Fortezza of a public of designers, style bureaus and members of the trade sector: an ever more qualified target from whom we are collecting enthusiastic feedback. The new Spazio Ricerca WWW curated by Angelo Figus and Nicola Miller showed a similar response and was, according to the audience, one of the most surprising and inspiring editions of recent seasons. I should also praise the many initiatives that, over the last few days, involved our exhibitors as well as institutions working on the spinning yarns and knitwear sector. Similarly, there was a very positive response to the first participation at the fair of Lineapelle with the research area “Today is Tomorrow”. We would also like to greet all the students of the Feel The Yarn competition with a very warm good luck for their careers and future projects!”.
Looking at the data of the final attendance figures, the total number of buyers reached almost 5,500 (+2% compared to last year), with levels of foreign buyers fully confirmed (around 2,900 international visitors). The numbers for the fair’s key reference markets were more or less unchanged with positive performances for Russia (+16%) and Eastern Europe, China (+10%), Turkey, Hong Kong (+11% in terms of the number of companies), South Korea (+20%) and countries in Northern Europe; there wasa drop for Japan and Spain.
A great surprise was the number of Italian buyers which, after falling for two editions, registered comforting growth of +5%.
In the ranking of the top 15 foreign countries of reference, the United Kingdom (305 buyer) confirms its pool position, followed by Germany (300), United States (232), France (232), Japan (158), Turkey (117), Russia (113),China (111), Spain (102), the Netherlands (89), Switzerland (89), Hong Kong (86), Sweden (61), South Korea (55) and Belgium (54).
On the morning of Friday 29 June, the winner of the ninth edition of FEEL THE YARN was announced, the competition dedicated to supporting and promoting young knitwear creatives organized by the Consorzio Promozione Filati with the backing of the Fondazione Pitti Immagine Discovery. Margot Vaaderpass (Royal College of Art) was singled out from the creations presented by 26 students selected from the most prestigious international fashion schools and will receive the cash prize provided by BIELLA YARN, part of the SUDWOLLE GROUP, which will allow the designer to continue her studies; the Feel the Yarn award is flanked by two training internships, one offered by PORTS whichwent to Ellis Jaz (Royal College of Art), and the other offered by Trafi Creatività which was awarded to Büke Cayci, a student at Hochschule Niederrhein.
