Forgive me dear reader for writing about Pitti, but so many people have asked about it since the summer edition last week - both industry people and, perhaps surprisingly, readers - that it seemed worthwhile.
The news isn’t good. There are fewer brands and some buildings remain closed. One London shop we all know said that since Covid, five of their suppliers have stopped showing and now are only in Milan. The Armoury only had Alan there, when they used to send a squad.
The Wednesday was busy, but Thursday was quiet, and Friday was dead. Friday has always been an odd one, with brands trying to work out how soon they could start closing down their booth, but this was the first time everything just shut down early, apparently. Two agents we know left on the Thursday evening, knowing this was coming.
Yet the parties are getting bigger and bigger. At the Wm Brown drinks on Wednesday evening, they had to pre-mix negronis to try and keep up with demand. There was still a 20-minute wait to get a drink, and it actually became a cash bar at 8 o’clock, at which point the place thinned out suspiciously.
I love these parties; they’re great fun. My favourite is the drinks on Thursday night organised by Jake Mueser and Maximilian Mogg, where a couple of hundred people attempt to squeeze onto a narrow street, and cheer the cars that try to drive through them.
The problem is, these are all work events for me and many others, and if they stop making sense from a work point of view, I won’t be able to come - or maybe come for only one day. I’ll go to Milan or Paris instead.
If the Japanese and Americans I want to meet don’t go, then I’ll stop coming. I’d suggest that if people like me stop going, some others that want to meet me and tell me about their brand, will also stop. The layers peel away until only the tourists are left.
A friend likened the situation to a dead whale floating to the bottom of the ocean. The animals that feed on the carcass are having a great time, but the whale is dead, and at some point it will all be gone.
This is too harsh: the whale isn’t dead yet. But there seem to be fundamental problems with the fair, disguised online by a blizzard of cocktail-drinking.
Talking of photos, it’s easy to forget that the more important photography has also slowly disappeared. Big magazines no longer want Pitti street-style photos as much, and so there are fewer photographers. There are fewer people posing to have their photo taken as a result: it’s the same vicious cycle as between brands and buyers.
And while it’s easy to mock the posing peacocks, I know so many readers that enjoyed seeing what their favourite people were wearing to Pitti. I still post a photo each day, because people ask, and I’d like to see everyone else’s as well.
“Pitti used to be good for two things,” a magazine editor told me this week. “There was always a little brand you discovered - some French pyjama maker or something equally obscure - and you could do trend pieces based on what everyone was wearing.
“Both of those things have disappeared. The brands are all the same, with generally lower quality. And there are fewer really stylish people going, so the big trend feature we used to do no longer works.”
I’ve seen these trends myself in the past 11 years. When I first went, the biggest party was drinks at Liverano & Liverano. There were maybe a hundred people, a great band, and everyone in there was a hero I wanted to talk to.
It used to be even better still. At the Mueser/Mogg evening I spent a good half hour chatting to an Italian cloth agent who first came in 1984 (as I said, these are work events - not just chatting to friends). He talked of the little booths containing Kiton, Attolini and Brioni, with the founders themselves there. I wish I had a time machine and could go see it all.
Pitti is still, of course, wonderful. If I compare it to the industry events I used to go to in my previous life, it’s a hell of a lot more glamorous and fun - and more fun than buying in Paris or Milan, or cloth fairs like Unica (above).
But to me it feels like something has to change, before the whale actually dies. If I was involved in Pitti I would try to bring more of the events and brands closer to the fair. I’d give them free spaces to hold events, and give deals to makers (and there are a lot of them) that show in hotel suites outside, inside.
Pitti flies people over to cover the fair and puts on events, like the Paul Smith one this time. But there’s no point bringing people over if there’s nothing to see. And shows like the Paul Smith one are a one-off. It needs substance before marketing.
Perhaps it would be nice if it were set up like a festival. Somewhere that customers and buyers were welcome but it was clearly a show, a place to show off your brand. A clean break with the idea of it being about wholesale and writing orders. Florence is an incredible location that everyone wants to go to - the concept of Pitti just has to make sense.
Street shots courtesy Maximilian Mogg. Normal non-industry business will be resumed in full force next week
You had me laughing loud at “it actually became a cash bar at 8 o’clock, at which point the place thinned out suspiciously.”
About it being a place to show off your brand, if I have to go by my instagram feed, it kind of is… Many people I follow are there posing in outfits from a different brand each day. I don’t really know the extent of the business relationship, if they just get the clothes for free or are actually paid to go there, but it’s clear that both are getting something out of it.
Whether this helps the fair survive in the long run, it’s not something that I can answer.
Yes that’s another dynamic – people or brands just being there to project outwards, to readers or viewers like yourself. That’s less about people actually at the fair seeing things.
I think that works well for a lot of people, but it’s one of those latter layers to peel away.
Oh dear ! All sounds a bit down .
It’s not clear , to me, why things are not so good .
Is it the wider economy ? Change in tastes ? Has something like private equity moved into brands ? Etc etc
To the layman say at home looking at social media all seems alive and well at Pitti.
If anything the Instagram impression seems to be less tight fitting menswear .
There are a few factors, from my limited experience, that I think are causing it:
– Department stores and similar big wholesale buyers have been in trouble for a while. That means fewer buyers
– There is steadily less craft, fewer makers, and that was always Pitti’s strength
– Overall times are tough, and people cut back where they have to. Pitti has become a nice-to-have for many brands
Hi Simon, thank you for the analysis. Thoughtful as always and generally sad to hear. I must disagree though with the notion that “Overall times are tough”. Surely times are better than ever in many ways. If you are talking about the elite producers producing for the elite, then maybe things are more difficult (because of the competition of big fast manufacturers I guess), but generally speaking more people on this planet are able to spend money on clothes and things are going ok? Are you referring to the demand for quality? What’s tough exactly? Many thanks for your thoughts
Well, I meant broadly speaking a lot of economies are not doing as well as they were, and increasing costs generally have made everything more expensive.
You’re certainly right that clothes are still very cheap historically. The biggest downside there is that cheaper end is causing a lot of damage to the environment.
For the higher-end clothing that we cover, there are certainly some positives, but many things continue to slide in a downward direction, such as the closing of tailors and of high-end manufacturers.
speaking of Maximilian Mogg, I’ve been hoping for some time that he might be featured on PS, perhaps an interview – is this something that might be on the cards?
Not in the near future, but at some point certainly yes
Pittinstagram…
What you describe is happening globally: new generations do not attend events to meet with new people on site, but to share such events with their followers and then potentially attract new followers… You are mentioning 200 people events, they are sharing their feeds with ten of thousands and most of the time answer DM’s rather than meet new people in real life.
Events are converting more and more as a simple source of contents used to exist on social media…
I think you’re right. I think a festival-type approach as suggested at the end might help accentuate that for everyone
As far as I know Pitti is not open to the public (I found out since I wanted to go but I couldn’t). Due to the increasing interest of “ordinary people” to the products (the number of readers of PS is clearly an evidence of this) I wonder whether opening to the public might contribute to revitalize the whale.
I agree, I think a festival-type approach would work well in that regard.
It is exactly what happens in Milan during the Design Week.
And has that changed in the past few years?
A lot. Milanese people love the event for its inclusivity and the vibe it brings to all the city while they dislike the fashion weeks that essentially mean traffic, no taxi and restaurants fully booked for few events involving a closed community.
Ciao Petronio, I used to go every year to a now mercifully defunct film rights market in Milan (MIFED). If I never see the Fiera Milano again (or the taxi queue at end of day), I shall be happy indeed…
In a previous life, I manufactured clothing for technical sports. The big show was Salt Lake City, and it was big. But as the rate of new product introduction decreased, gatherings moved from the floor to hosted parties in hotel suites. When there is nothing new, it’s hard to justify continued investment. This is especially true when there are alternatives … Zoom, online catalogues, etc.
I’ve seen this trend for at least 40 years. It’s surprisingly predictable.
Interesting, thanks Bob. Did the main fair eventually disappear then, or what became of it?
The organizers retooled it with a bigger focus on connecting to its host community. Yes, more like a festival with more local involvement. They also changed dates to make it better align to buyers patterns. It’s smaller, probably more fun but at the same time, not as much a factor the way it once was.
Nice, thanks Bob, interesting to have the parallel
What struck me this time was the amount of people not really aware of Pitti being a trade-fair and not primarily a menswear meetup, made up of negronis and cigars. I actually talked to someone on the Thursday who hadn’t been inside the halls at all yet (except to use the bathroom) although they attended the venue every day. What also struck me was the lack of awareness on how small the, neither buyer nor seller, menswear enthusiast crowd” is, compared to the people actually keeping the tradefair going. They are the most visible, but by no means an especially important part of keeping Pitti Uomo afloat. It was still, of course, a lot of fun.
The latter is a good point Nick, I hadn’t thought about that. You might have hundreds people doing all the pictures, but there are thousands there (15,000 this time I think) otherwise involved, that keep it going
Hello Simon,
I share a big part of your observations.
Perhaps a big event like Pitti is not more adapted to today’s world. It appears to me that 7-8 years ago, it was easier to come for 3 days for a little shop even in Europe as flight and b&b were not expensive. Today, everything is more expensive, so you really need to have a good reason to come.
In the same time, as you said, we are in an era where there are more makers closing their activity than opening new factories, so if a shop or brand manager is not looking for a supplier he already has, he has no reason to come.
I hope that things will change before it’s too late.
I think some type of fair is probably the answer too. The watch world had Bazel World and through covid it kind of died. But I think the Windup Watch Fair in the US is a great idea. I think brands are still getting work done, but then there is something for everyone to come and see as well. It’s like a trade event with a huge customer facing arm.
Interesting, thanks Zak. Loving these comparisons to other industries – particularly when it’s a menswear-adjacent one like watches
That is a really good comparison. BaselWorld was getting so arrogantly expensive that it simply priced itself to death. Even companies like Patek, Omega & Rolex (all with unlimited budgets) walked away. The little company had no chance and it became a Hot-Take event for the inside crowd rather than helping the industry overall.
Increased costs, decreased exposure and the continued devaluation of quality will continue to hurt events like Pitti. Given the volume of clothing purchased untouched from Amazon, fast fashion and increase of synthetic materials, it is clear that physical events no longer hold the same value….especially if you don’t care about Followers & Influencers.
BaselWorld wrongly assumed it was the star of the show rather than the participants. It imploded in less than a single year.
BaselWorld died mostly because of the management, which lived as lavish as I amhave ever heard a board live.
Correct, I’ve heard that rumour also. Combined with other Basel events dying, the management kept overcharging the watch companies to offset.
My point is mainly that industries change and physical events like Pitti/BaselWorld aren’t as vital. This isn’t good though, as it limits exposure of smaller companies and manufacturers.
Simon, thanks for the insight into Pitti. I was hoping to make it this year for the first time, however I’m starting to second guess whether or not it makes sense to try for next year’s event. Are you seeing any folks (like the Japanese and Americans, other niche brands, industry people, etc.) migrate to another event? More so in Milan or Paris? Or neither? Cheers.
Yes they are, Milan and Paris – most to Milan (eg Rota, who we use) but some to Paris (eg Drake’s, as we covered here)
Wonderful, thank you, Simon.
A general trend indeed. You hear the same story over and over again. Car shows like those in Frankfurt or Geneva are gone. Computer exhibitions such as CeBIT or E3 for gaming, and watch exhibitions like Baselworld, have all disappeared.
Dear Simon,
A couple of years ago you organised a meeting between tailors from all over the globe, and what appealed to me then was the differences in approach, but at the same time the focus on craft. I re-read the article (and video, I belief) a couple of times. Would you still organize such an event today?
Or put another way are there still tailors attending from London, Italy, Japan or other places? And if so, for what reasons? Thanks!
Hey Burt,
That was the Tailoring Symposium and it was great, also nine years ago!
I wouldn’t be able to organise something like that at Pitti today probably, and it’s a good point. Most tailors have little reason to be there (unless they’re buying for stock they hold in their shop) but they frequently went in the past simply because it was the centre of everything. Now they rarely do, at least the bigger or older houses.
Going forward I think the future for luxury menswear (and therefore the future of PS) is to find interesting ways to review star products.
For example there have been many launches from PS but we never hear how a ‘real consumer’ is enjoying the product. This is the missing piece of the jigsaw.
Indeed the popularity of ‘Readers Profiles’ would endorse this thought and seeing product in action would certainly give boutique brands an edge over their Bond Street rivals.
This for me is much more important and productive then trying to revive flagging trade shows.
Also what about some embedded videos featuring star products in action ?
Nice ideas David, thank you. We are actually working on one piece at the moment on a reader’s wax walker, which has aged wonderfully. And we do videos now more on Instagram, sometimes featuring PS products in action. But I can certainly see how more showing how people wear the products would be helpful
Second this. The Reader profiles combined with exploring new brands, stores or the like is what is interesting. Combine this with the pop-ups (even though I havent been able to attend yet) that is great setup.
Tailors don’t go to Pitti, and that says it all.
See comment above – it really never made sense for them to, as their suppliers weren’t there. But they still did for a while when it became such an event
Sounds as though its run its course as there’s a staleness creeping in. For what it’s worth, and this seems to be an unpopular opinion on PS, I loved the pics of the Peacocks in the Heyday.
Hiya Simon,
Slightly off topic but what cut of jean do you go for – straight/slightly tapered?
I’ve been wearing my chinos a lot lately and am beginning to look at my jeans and wishing they were broader – both the chinos and jeans are from Blackhorse Lane so the quality is great but the chinos are their W11 model and my jeans are the NW8 model.
Secondly have you tried Anglo Italian’s jeans?
Thanks
T
Hey Tom – have you seen this post summarising my favourite jeans? You might find everything you need there
Hiya Simon,
Thanks for this, it’s very useful.
My main reason for considering AI is that they have washes which I think would be difficult to achieve from other new/raw denims, and hopefully a broader leg to work with tailoring.
Was that your experience with them?
T
To be honest I’m not much of a fan of the AI jeans. I had a pair a while ago and didn’t really take to them. They’re a more Italian denim, smoother and with less character – something we talked about in detail on our post about what makes quality in denim. It’s a subjective thing, but I’d much rather have something closer to the original and the current Japanese. I’d look to a brand like Orslow instead, or Full Count for a higher end
Thanks for the feedback Simon!
Hiya Simon,
If I could pick this up again, I tried the AI jeans and ultimately came to the same conclusion as you. Like a stubborn child, I had to try it my way!
Having read your article about your favourite pairs of jeans, if I were to put you on the spot, could you choose between your Bryceland’s pair or Rubato? In both black and blue. Which would come out on top and why?
I have been considering the NW1 model from BHL for a broader legged jean but would like to try Bryceland’s when they’re available.
T
I would probably choose the Bryceland’s, but purely because the rise is a touch higher and i prefer that. They’re both great jeans
Thanks again
Interesting post on an event I shall never attend despite my passion for menswear, and my living 90 minutes away, as I am not in the menswear business.
Which doesn’t seem to stop many of the attendees I see on IG. A lot of the partygoers appear to be Yanks playing dress-up on their Italian sojourn. I have no problem with that, and generally find the photos entertaining if often as comedy. Sometimes I even see looks that I like, and inspire me.
But peacock parties wouldn’t seem a sustainable business plan.
As reflected in comments below, most of my friends here in Rome who genuinely are in the business (tailors, stylists) no longer go to Pitti. They already have more customers than they can service given the dearth of young workers, so no need to show off in Florence. As for acquiring shop stock like belts and shoes, they already know all the Italian small artisans and don’t need to roam event halls in search of merch.
Thanks Max, useful perspective to have
Good evening Simon, everybody. Ι’ve never been to the Pitti, but I’d love to one day, summer and winter also. I would like to go, mainly to meet people with common -as mine- clothing interests, dressed in their best. To spend my money there an not to… “it actually became a cash bar at 8 o’clock, at which point the place thinned out suspiciously.”!!! Something like a celebration, thats the way i see it. I don’t own a retail store, so i’m not interested in wholesale orders. Then, to my opinion it is a casual clothing exhibition. Most of my clothes are tailored and my needs for casual are easily covered by the clothing shops in Athens where i live, or by the internet. Somebody wrote that the exhibition is not open to the common, but only to traders… tragic… And after that, to visit the show, you have to book the hotel and the flights months before (not sure, i guess so because of the people flow), ways i dont like. I noticed long ago, that some folks laugh at the peacocks. I believe that without them Pitti would not even exist these nowadays. Finally, Pitti is a dream, a wish, for the reasons i said before and a possible suspension of it would be something like the end of an era for me
Probably the best piece you’ve ever written, Simon. It’s a bit like: Truman Capote’s The Dog’s Bark meets New Yorker Magazine’s “Talk of the Town.”
A joy to read this (despite what the story augurs).
Thank you Wes, love the references
Hi Simon
At first I thought you’d gone all Lady Whistledown on us with your opening line.
Like all of life things move on. I cannot be the only one who looks on social media and sees the same people doing the same thing on multiple accounts. Negroni and cigar anyone? After a while you just disconnect – unfollow. I wonder if that is contributing here too. Not sure I’d want to do business in what seems to have become a social event.
Your profile of Tetsuya this week brought it home to me that something a little real and normal that we can relate to more easily is what we need. I love that his considered approach made me think not about acquiring more but about reappraising clothes I already have and about how I can wear them differently. It’s probably harder to find these subjects but very rewarding.
Keep up the good work.
Best wishes Nigel
Lovely to hear that it inspired that in you Nigel
Second the comment on the Negronis. Surely the avant garde can come up with something more original to drink now that even 43-year old lawyers in Dutch university towns have caught on?
And excellent article, Simon, thanks. Love your writing.
Great article as always, it’s an unfortunate thing I’ve never been to Piti but I’ve always wanted and from what I’ve seen it thus seem to be on the decline especially since covid. Pre covid it seemed like there was a good mix of satirical tourism and brand exposure but since Covid the brand exposure has gone down. But the idea of creating a festival sounds like a good way of salvaging it as theirs a risk that it becomes like Basel world.
But that is the risk of a good thing not evolving.
It had come down from its peak before Covid, but that certainly accelerated things (as it has done in many places)
Simon, which precovid years do you believe was the Pitti Uomo’s peak?
Hard to say to be honest, it’s often more of a feeling or anecdotal. But I’d guess maybe 2-3 years before. The whole Sartorialist thing sparked the interest and the street style vogue. It grew from there for a few years and then probably peaked
Like a ‘Coachella of Tacky Taste’ it seems
It’s a Pitti that it’s come to this
A great article. I’m always hoping you’ll write more posts like this about the deep realignments taking place in menswear industry post COVID (not style choices but rather what tectonics are driving the artisans, the brands, the workers, the customers). But it still feels like menswear is in a rapid period of flux. And the changes are very different in Asia versus Italy versus London. It’s still difficult to predict where the new normal will be. Pitti is perhaps the closest we get to a global overview since it draws people and brands from all over.
I need that grey wool (?) polo shirt on the second picture. Any guess what it can be?
That’s Nicola Radano, so you can check his account or perhaps even message him
I used to attend 10 years ago, the marvelous Liverano band and The Rake parties full of sartorial idols. I remember my only goal was to say hello to you but you were chatting with Mr.Cifonelli in the Four Seasons’ garden…I didn’t dare to interrupt!
I agree on your suggestion to bring all the events and parties back to la fortezza, to really leverage the fair as an hub for like minded individuals to meet, do business, be inspired.
A short while ago I snuck into the Chicago Collective to get a view of what was out there and what was coming in the following year. I loved seeing all the beautiful clothing and accessories but was kind of disgruntled by the fact that most of it was unavailable to buy in person at stores in the same city the show was taking place in; despite in being the third largest metropolitan in the country. A day or two later I floated an idea on Jeremy Kirkland’s (Blamo!) Patreon slack that perhaps these shows should reserve the final day for customers to come in, see the stuff, try things on, and then order right there to have the items shipped upon production (If they make it to production of course). Problem is that would require size runs of all the items or at least the most popular ones, and several of the industry people in the group, running smaller outfits of course, filleted me for it. But still just don’t see how it wouldn’t be beneficial for a company like C&J to have a size run of their top three lasts. Or for Barbour to have a few sizes runs of non-Beaufort/Bedales/and Ashby jackets to try on, etc etc.
Pipe dream I guess.
Yes, in the end these shows are not aimed at customers and brands have a hard enough time making them work for wholesale buyers, let alone dealing with end customers as well.
It’s more an issue with Chicago that there is no local shop that would then be stocking the things on offer