29th Edition
CONFIRMATION OF THE NUMBER OF EXHIBITORS
29th EDITION
CONFIRMATION OF THE NUMBER OF EXHIBITORS
RISING NUMBER OF EUROPEAN COMPANIES (+8%)
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AND SUSTAINABILITY
AT THE CENTER OF THE OPENING CEREMONY
THE ON TOUR EVENT, THE JOURNEY TO THE ORIGINS OF TEXTILE EXCELLENCE, DEDICATES TUESDAY EVENING TO THE TUSCANY REGION. THE EVENT WILL ALSO CELEBRATE 40 YEARS OF ACTIVITY OF PRATOTRADE, A POINT OF REFERENCE FOR THE ENTREPRENEURS AND CREATIVITY OF THE PRATO DISTRICT.
Milan, July 9, 2019 – 608 exhibitor companies will participate in the 29th edition of Milano Unica, the Italian Textiles Trade Show, scheduled on July 9, 10 and 11 at Rho Fiera Milano (Pav. 8, 12, 16 and 20) and presenting the A/W 2020/2021 collections of textiles and accessories with a selection that will offer visitors only the very best of high end products for men, women and children.
As always, the offering presented by the Japan and Korea Observatories and Origin Passion & Beliefs is also of a very high level.
Milano Unica has recorded an increased number of European exhibitors, totaling 93 (+8%), while the overall number of 465 exhibitors is essentially in line with the July 2018 edition.
The themes of the Opening Ceremony will revolve around digital transformation and sustainability. The ceremony, chaired by Ercole Botto Poala, President of Milano Unica, and moderated by David Pambianco, Pambianco Strategie d’Impresa, included the following speakers: Carlo Capasa, President of the Italian National Chamber of Fashion; Roberto Luongo, General Director of the Italian Trade Agency; Nazzareno Mengoni, Co-Founder of Startupbootcamp; Alberto Paccanelli, President of Euratex; Marino Vago, President of Sistema Moda Italia and Edoardo Zegna, Head of content and innovation of the Ermenegildo Zegna Group.
The attention of Milano Unica and its exhibitors is also focused on supporting the processes of digital innovation in production, promotion and communication activities. In February, a pilot edition of the e-milanunica platform was launched. The Marketplace, developed in collaboration with Pitti Immagine, is designed to facilitate teaming up, with the participation of 60 companies. After six months, the number of the participating companies has risen to 153, each with a total of 20 products presented from their latest collection.
Can the textile industry implement sustainability?
A resounding ‘yes’ results from the numbers collected from the participation in the Sustainability Project launched by Milano Unica in 2017. Already in July 2018, an extraordinary success was recorded, with three times as many companies (123 companies) and a total of 750 product samples on display compared to the previous edition. The number of companies in this edition has risen to over 150 (+22%), with 1004 samples (+40%) on display in the area reserved for Sustainability. For this edition, two new product classification categories have been introduced: 'Fancy Green', i.e. products featuring creative and innovative details, and 'EverGreen', i.e. products that express continuity over time. These aspects integrate those taken into consideration in the previous edition, namely product innovation and process sustainability. All data is made available on the Sustainability Project Catalogue at the trade show and in digital format on the HYPERLINK "http://www.milanounica.it/" www.milanounica.it website.
During the presentation Carlo Capasa and Ercole Botto Poala announced the names of the 10 semifinalists for The Franca Sozzani GCC Emerging Designer Award: Flavia La Rocca, Anyango Mpinga, ACBC,Twins Florence, Benedetta Bruzziches, Dalpos, Gin Salemò, Kexuan Li, Michele Chiocciolini, Unravelau. A short list of 5 names will be selected, and then a winner, who will receive the prize on the occasion of the Green Carpet Fashion Awards, to be held at the Teatro alla Scala on September 22, 2019. Milano Unica is taking part in the award with the young textile designers of exhibitor companies committed to increasingly pursuing sustainability targets. This collaboration is meant to further strengthen the bridge between ‘upstream’ and ‘downstream’ activities in the Textiles/Apparel supply chain.
“The steady number of exhibitors also in this edition confirms the success of our choices and proposals. A very pleasant surprise was the rising participation in the e-milanunica platform, the Marketplace developed in collaboration with Pitti Immagine, which also represents a digital evolution of our trade show. In this case too, both as a collaborative group and as individual companies, we need to work hard to enrich our expertise and competencies with a view to increasing the perception of the quality of our products, including the ability to convey emotions. In the meantime, we have created a further stimulus to proceed in the right direction,” commented Ercole Botto Poala, President of Milano Unica.
“Furthermore, the participation in the Sustainability Project is exceeding our best expectations. Of course, there is still a lot to do, but our contribution is part of a responsible vision that we share to protect our planet, while at the same time providing concrete answers to the increasingly pressing demands of the market. This is also why, in line with Sistema Moda Italia, we have stipulated an agreement with the Italian National Chamber of Fashion to participate in the Green Carpet Awards in September, for the assignment of a prize to a young designer who has demonstrated to have creatively interpreted fashion in a more sustainable manner,” added Ercole Botto Poala, President of Milano Unica.
As usual, Milano Unica, in addition to the collections of the exhibitor companies, presents several content projects: the new edition of e-MilanoUnica marketplace, the exclusive business-to-business info-commerce platform; the MU Sustainable Innovation project, with the best environmentally sustainable products; the MU Tendenze area, inspired by the Ecorotica theme and MU Sintesi, with the most representative products samples of each exhibitor company.
Among the various proposals are the MU Special Contents, such as Linen Dream Lab by Celc, Woolmark, SMI – Sistema Moda Italia, the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, Banca Sella and the initiative by the Milan Polytechnic dedicated to young designers.
Also Filo, with the upstream trends of textiles, MU Info & Style, for business services, MU Trade Press, with a wide selection of books and magazines, MU Vintage and MU Designers complete and enrich the exhibition. In addition to the Japan and Korea Observatories, the MU Special Areas host Origin Passion and Beliefs, a storytelling of Italian manufacturing in the fashion and accessories industry.
“Sustainability and digital transformation are the key themes of the 29th edition of Milano Unica and in recent years we have seen a growing number of Italian companies engaged, making us proud of the attention demonstrated towards such an important topic both for the planet and for the latest trends oriented to successfully reaching out to millennial consumers, increasingly sensitive to ethical issues. This is an opportunity we must seize, leveraging on this edition of the trade show, in order to combine Italian excellence, which stands out for its quality, style and design, with the characteristics of sustainability and control of the entire supply chain and the raw materials, increasingly demanded by the market. The Italian Trade Agency contributes significantly with a high level delegation of buyers and international media, testifying to the value of Made-in-Italy products on display in the trade show with determination both from a communication and commercial perspective,” underscored Roberto Luongo, General Director of the Italian Trade Agency.
“The 29th edition features a rich agenda of events, adding value to the presentations of the new collections of fabrics and accessories. Milano Unica is not only an irremissible moment of commercial promotion, but a marketing tool to increase the visibility of the uniqueness of Made in Italy products. The final judgment on this edition will, as usual, be up to the visitors and our exhibitors, but I feel I can say that once again we have achieved our goals. An appointment not to be missed, as confirmed by the number of exhibitors, made possible thanks to the financial support of the Italian Ministry of Economic Development and the essential support of the Italian Trade Agency which, among other things, ensures, once again, the qualified presence of delegations of international buyers and journalists from the most important specialized publications in the world,” explained Massimo Mosiello, General Director of Milano Unica
Milano Unica extends special thanks to the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, the Italian Trade Agency, Sistema Moda Italia and the Municipality of Milan for its sponsorship.
Milano Unica also thanks Banca Sella for its collaboration and the sponsors Caffè Toraldo and Lauretana.
For additional information:
Milano Unica Press Office
Daniela Scardi - Tel. +39 02 6610 1105 - +39 3661964979
Sergio Vicario (Metafora) - Tel. +39 02 45485095/6 - +39 348 9895170
