The right way to create new collections is to visit the textile exhibition Milano Unica, which traditionally takes place in the Italian fashion capital in early February.

The exhibition at Fiera Milano Rho gathered more than 400 participants and about 6,000 active visitors representing Italian and international fashion companies. The organizers of the exhibition noticed that this season there were fewer guests from China than usual, – this is due to the fact that the dates of the Milano Unica coincided with the celebration of the Chinese New Year. At the same time, the total number of visitors was almost the same as in February last year, thanks to a significant increase in the number of participating companies from Poland (+16%), Japan (+15%), Romania (+11%), Korea (+5%), the UK (+5%) and Spain (+5%). Germany and the USA showed stable seeding.

The traditional opening ceremony of the event was attended by: Ercole Botto Poala, President Milano Unica; Mauro Scalia, Director of Sustainable Business Development Euratex; Raffaello Napoleone, CEO Pitti Immagine; Masahiko Miyake, President of JFW – Japan Fashion Week; Roberto Luongo, CEO of Agency ICE; Michel Gerasi, Deputy Secretary Ministry of Economic Development of Italy.

The central exposition of the exhibition has demonstrated fabrics, materials and accessories of the spring-summer 2020 season for the production of men's, women's and children's clothing. In addition to the thematic section of Tendenze, special sections of the exhibition and content projects were presented related to it by common themes and the concept of the«Mu­­zykalny menu», providing a better reading of the trends of future seasons, dedicated to the project &"Sustainable development", which has been the leitmotif of the exhibition for the third season.

Sustainable development today is the key to the confident operation of the entire sector.I am absolutely convinced that if our companies have overcome difficult times, it is only because, in addition to quality service and innovation, they respected the product and the environment, they worked to limit the negative impact of the textile and clothing industry on the planet. Now we must act in concert, because this is a global problem, the well-being of future generations is at stake.

Ercole Botto Poala, President of the Milano Unica exhibition

The desire for an open dialogue, which has distinguished Milano Unica for years, has now spread to international production processes and markets. This is evidenced by the special sections of the exhibition – observatories, which from season to season present the most interesting innovative textile offers from Japan and Korea to Italian and European manufacturers. This season Milano Unica solemnly celebrated the 10th season of the Japanese Observatory, organized in cooperation with JFW &JETRO.

"The 28th season was held with an expanded program: not only the latest developments in the field of textiles and accessories were presented, but also many useful events were held aimed at increasing the popularity of our exhibition for the world market. This was made possible thanks to funding provided by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development and cooperation with the ICE Agency, which, in turn, ensured the professional participation of international delegations and journalists from the most famous specialized magazines in the world. Special thanks to the organizers of the Japanese section, which for ten consecutive seasons has allowed manufacturers and designers of clothing and footwear to come into direct contact with an extraordinarily creative culture producing innovative textile materials that significantly complement our exposition, " shares Massimo Mosiello, CEO of Milano Unica.

The evolution of the exhibition takes place in two important directions characteristic of the entire world of fashion, sustainable development and access to the digital environment. During the opening ceremony, a new online project e-milanounica was presented, implemented in partnership with the family of specialized exhibitions Pitti Immagine. The trading platform launched in the pilot version will be fully ready for operation in July 2019. It is intended to promote the textile industry sector and expand direct contacts between manufacturers and their customers.

Photo: Milano Unica