Lessons from the 91st Pitti Uomo

After attending Pitti Uomo, London Fashion Week Men's is tame by comparison. At #LFWM I was able to comfortably browse the collections, get to know the designers, and became very familiar with the venue's floorplan—totally different story at Pitti.  

What is Pitti Uomo?
Hosted by Pitti Immagine each January and June in Florence, Italy, Pitti Uomo brings together brands, buyers, and press. The company defines their fair as: "Pitti Uomo: the most important international event for menswear and men accessories collections and for the launch of new men fashion projects." I'd like to validate their claim.

Pitti Uomo overwhelmed me! There were 24,300 buyers alone. That's not counting members of the press or the general public who purchased tickets!

Where LFWM hosted around 50 brands in one building, Pitti must have had hundreds and filled about 15 buildings (many of which had 2-3 floors). In the 3 days that I was in Florence, I spent the entire day walking around the compound trying to find my way and often finding myself back where I started unable to find my target section. At last on the final day I had began to have my bearings.

A view down the Via Ricasoli, where I stayed, looking towards the beautiful Duomo.

What have I learned from Pitti Uomo? 

• Fashion. When people use the word, fashion, it is automatically assumed they mean, luxury fashion. Most of the brands represented are never coming to a mall near you.
• Luxury. The main differentiation between the luxury market segment and other more affordable segments is quality. I can't express how many times I've heard that word over these last few days. Highest quality. Best quality. Made in Italy. Japanese materials. The softest. The lightest. The term, luxury, commands whatever extreme quality (there's that word again!) that is desirable by the industry. 
• Competition & PR. It was until I began walking the multiple floors of the 15 Pitti buildings did I begin to understand how much competition exists in the fashion industry. They all have talent. They all have good products. They all want to grow. How any of them manage is a marvel. I understand now why it is so vital to have excellent branding, marketing strategy, and media placement. It is needed to simply remain on level footing against the competitors. The brief moments when a celebrity is photographed in a brand's clothing, and published in a media channel with a large readership that brand has the market's attention. And we buy what we know, or what our friends know, so these media moments are vital to establishing trust between a brand an the consumer. 
• Design Differentiation. Although there was an immense selection of choice, I must say that there was not as much variety in design. Everyone made suits, sweaters, and shirts. The main point of differentiation were color, fabric, and prints. Without the embroidered logos or labels, you could mix and match products and never know which brand produced it. When I recognized this it led to two mini revelations: 1) I could browse the exhibitors much more quickly by only stopping at brands that were innovative, had an opinion, or featured something memorable. 2) Brands competing for the same luxury customer do so by developing and nurturing personal relationships with key buyers and media influencers. The only reason some of these brands succeed while others stagnate or fail is because they are friends with the right people who can place their products in the right stores and get the right press coverage for it.
• Egos. Even if a well dressed person has great connections and influence, I have no interest in knowing them if they cannot have manners as well. For much of my time at Pitti I was struck by how no one acknowledged the person standing next to them in the exhibitor's stand. And on the walkways no one made any effort to share footspace; they moved for no one. I don't know if this is due to how crowded the fair was (24k buyers alone), or perhaps it's common in the fashion industry? Either way I felt more confident walking when I decided that I would only associate with people if they were capable of showing some common courtesy.
• Details Matter. As I walked among the fashion royalty I began to notice how beautifully put-together they all were. The color and pattern combinations paired with the expressive accessories all worked together to form wonderful style. I loved people watching at Pitti. Many of the attendees looked like they had stepped out of a fashion editorial. The more "loudly dressed" are known as "Pitti Peacocks." They taught me to pay attention to the details like a lapel pin, pocket square, jewelry, hairstyle, pops of color, etc. When we get dressed, we're really only halfway done. If you don't embellish the outfit with accessories you still have untapped personality to show. I'll need to pay more attention to this moving forward.

An accent neon lapel pin and some shiny new coins add valuable visual interest.

Contact Count Hovering Around 60 +/-

With the addition of about 25 new contacts from Pitti I have a total of 60 brands to interview. Some of them from Pitti will be "miniviews" as a shorter interview format was all that could be managed in the chaos, but some will be full-length. It's already been wonderful to have these people to reach out to. I'm meeting two of them in Paris in a few weeks, and one of them may be able to invite to an event in New York! On Saturday the 14th I will head to Milan and am excited for the adventures ahead!