Pitti Bimbo fashion fair received over 10000 visitors

Driving demand were the excellent performances from Russia, which is now the country most represented at Pitti Bimbo (+25%, 326 buyers) and Turkey (+43%), as well as the good performances from France (+5%), United States (+10%), Japan (18%), China (+38%), South Korea (+60%, sales outlets), Hong Kong (with double the number of buyers) and the main countries of South East Asia, including Central Asia (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan), the United Arab Emirates (+44%), the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Egypt), and Northern Europe. 

The figures for Brazil and South Africa were also very good. With regard to the Italian buyers – which included all the most important names and boutiques – the numbers repeated the trend already seen at Pitti Uomo, with a decrease of around 18% and a total of 3,500 visitors.

The total number of buyers was approximately 6,200, and the fair received over 10,000 visitors.

“You could feel a high level of energy among the stands”, says Raffaello Napoleone, CEO of Pitti Immagine, “in the new collections, the events and the catwalk presentations.  The exhibitors expressed their great satisfaction and told us that the quality level of the attendance was very high with lots of buyers from new markets. 

There were no surprises with regard to the Italians: children’s fashion retailing has changed dramatically in recent years, the number of independent retailers has dropped, the sales outlets have evolved – covering larger areas and presenting more structured proposals – and in the current Italian economic situation these trends have obviously been accelerated. 

This edition of Pitti Bimbo was also affected by the drop in attendance from southern Italy and Emilia: in the case of Emilia this was clearly attributable to the recent earthquake which did not, however, affect the presence of exhibitors from the region, starting with some of the top Italian children’s fashion manufacturers. 

With regard to Southern Italy, it should be remembered that the slowdown of the Italian economy is very strongly felt in areas that are particularly dependent on internal consumption”.

“The foreign attendance figures were very significant and amounted to 45% of the total number of attendees”, concludes Raffaello Napoleone.  “The growth registered was even more sustained if we look at the number of sales outlets (+4% compared to June 2011), despite the expected reductions from countries that traditionally send lots of buyers (such as Spain, Greece and Holland), and the confirmation of the figures for stronger countries like Germany and the United Kingdom.