Pitti Uomo confirms dates for next four winter editions

By

Dominique Muret

Published
Mar 26, 2013

Pitti Immagine is not taking any chances, at least not until 2017. The menswear tradeshow which takes place in Florence twice a year has fixed the dates of its 2015, 2016 and 2017 winter editions, which will all start on 8th January.

Wedged between the end of year celebrations (which end on 6 January in Italy) and the various men’s fashion weeks, the Pitti organizers have found a way to defend their position in the menswear calendar. The decision, made by the executive board, was unanimous according to the press release.

The 2014 winter edition of the show had already been confirmed and will take place between 7 and 10 January, with the new date of the 8 January coming into effect in January 2015.
“The international calendar of men’s fashion has entered a phase of great change due not only to the entry of new subjects but also to the jamming of the mechanisms that for decades had regulated the time-plan of these dates,” says Gaetano Marzotto, president of Pitti Uomo.

The Italians did not appreciate the recent lack of flexibility of other big fashion institutions that seemed to do nothing to prevent the clashing of events. Further to that is the arrival on the fashion calendar of men’s fashion week in London, which took place this year between 7 and 9 January while Pitti was scheduled between 8 and 10 January, therefore overlapping by two days. ‘London Collections: Men’ will overlap with the Italian event again this summer, with the first ending on the18 June and the second starting that same day and ending on 21 June.

“In 2014, as had already happened before, we would have had to postpone everything (Florence, Milan, Paris) by one week, in order for Pitti Uomo not to open on the day following the Epiphany, and therefore not too near the Christmas holidays, with the ensuing difficulties for companies, set-up mounters, and even for buyers. This, unfortunately as we all know, won’t be happening in 2014, and therefore Pitti Uomo will be opening exactly on January 7th: we are doing our best to organize everything as well as possible but meanwhile we have come to the conclusion that a new standard is replacing previous ones,” continued Gaetano Marzotto.

Pitti Immagine has chosen to fix its winter editions for the next three years in order to create “a climate of greater tranquillity for all concerned”. As for the summer edition of the show, the organisers have confirmed that the event will continue to take place in the second ten days of June.

Management at Pitti had informed the organizers of London, Milan and Paris fashion week of their decision several weeks ago. “In our opinion the rigid distinction between “fair” and “fashion show” is now obsolete,” underlined the president, calling the decision a “coordinated management of the international calendar.”