The final attendance figures showed that there were around 4,800 buyers (+ 2.5% compared to the 4,600 buyers a year ago), with 2,500 foreign buyers, a rise of more than 6%. 

In numerical terms the number of Italian buyers remained the same as for the last summer edition, although there was a slight increase in the number of companies attending. 

With regard to foreign markets, the best performances were registered from the United Kingdom (+ 7%), Japan (+ 3%), Spain (+ 32%), China and Turkey (both over + 50%).  There were also good figures for Belgium, Portugal, Poland and all the countries in Northern Europe (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland).  Germany and the United States confirmed their previous attendance figures, whilst there were slight drops for France and Holland.  Over 50 countries in total were represented at the fair.

“This edition of Pitti Filati surpassed all our expectations”, says Raffaello Napoleone, CEO of Pitti Immagine.  “There was a general feeling of satisfaction among the stands: the exhibitors presented some beautiful collections and we saw lots of creativity, experimentation and highly innovative fashion content.  Foreign visitors continue to be the driving force behind our fairs, and are still growing in terms of numbers as well as quality.  In fact, for the last two editions of Pitti Filati, the international buyers have outnumbered the Italians. 

“KnitClub, this edition’s new area, dedicated to a special selection of quality Italian knitting mills, received a very positive reaction and feedback, as did Love, the theme for the new Spazio Ricerca, and the fourth edition of Feel The Yarn, the competition dedicated to aspiring knitwear designers from some of the top international fashion schools. 

"Overall, Pitti Filati is a true laboratory of creativity, research, quality and product innovation: basically, a metaphor for the uniqueness of our country’s fashion system.  And, considering that the collections presented at this edition will be in stores for fall-winter 2014, we are confident that we will witness a concrete recovery of both markets and consumption”.

Once again leading the list of the top 20 foreign countries was Germany (365 buyers), followed by the United Kingdom (327), the United States (221), France (216), Japan (185), Spain (163), Turkey (105), Switzerland (87), China (85), Holland (83), Hong Kong (82), Russia (66), Sweden (54), Belgium (42), Austria (39), Portugal (35), Denmark (29), Norway (24), South Korea (20) and Poland (18).

On the last day of Pitti Filati the award ceremony was held at the Fortezza da Basso for the fourth edition of Feel The Yarn, the competition created as a result of the collaboration between Toscana Promozione, Unione Industriale Pratese-Confindustria Prato, Elementi Moda and Pitti Immagine.  The knitwear and creativity of Yiyi Guo, a young student from the BIFT - Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, won the competition.

Pitti Immagine