“Pitti Bimbo is the key reference for international children’s fashions”, says Raffaello Napoleone, CEO of Pitti Immagine. “And at this edition we are seeing quality growth among the boutique and department store buyers who hail from a greater number of foreign countries. Obviously, some markets are showing signs of suffering given their economic problems, and here I mean Spain, but mainly Russia — the “champion” of recent editions. It has fallen back significantly, like Ukraine, two countries in which the political situation and the poor exchange rates are impacting businesses and consumer behaviors. On the other hand, there is a big increase in the number of buyers from two huge markets like China (together with Hong Kong) and Brazil. In the wake of the results of Pitti Uomo, we had good reasons to believe that the Italian market would also turn the corner, but the dynamics of domestic consumption when it comes to children’s clothes is still critical. However, the quality of the Italian buyers who did come to the show is reassuring. On the whole, we heard lots of positive statements regarding the new collections presented by the leading children’s wear manufacturers, regarding the quality of buyers who came from all over the world, and regarding this edition’s truly full calendar of runway shows, presentations, special events, and new project launches”.
As to international attendance, Great Britain, Turkey, Switzerland, South Korea, Lebanon and all the countries from the Gulf have shown growth; there was poorer turnout on the part of France, Germany, and Belgium; while the figures are stable for the United States, Holland, and North European markets.
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