Micam Milano, Mipel, The One Milano and Homi Fashion&Jewels, the events dedicated to fashion and accessories held in Milan's Rho Pero hub from 19 to 22February, closed their doors showing a start of the recovery of the sectors they represent.
A total of 1,800 exhibiting companies participated in the events, meeting 48,276 trade visitors, up 25% from the previous edition.
About half of the buyers present came from abroad sin particular from Germany, France, The United Kingdom, Greece and Spain. Excellent results were also recorded from more distant countries such as South Korea, Japan and Kazakhstan.
Micam Milano, Mipel, The One Milano and Homi Fashion&Jewels stood out for bringing to the fair the best of Made in Italy combined with the most important international excellence. Ample space was given to young people from all over the world through ad hoc projects: the designers of the new generation have thus demonstrated their talent, tracing a path made of innovation, creativity and technology that will characterize in the future the sectors protagonists of the four events.
Within Micam and Mipel, some sections have attracted special interest.
Micam supports in new generations
Micam hosted the fifth edition of the Emerging Designers project, an area-event dedicated to 12 young international footwear designers selected by a jury of experts chaired by designer Ernesto Esposito and industry insiders including Tiziana Fausti, Cori Amenta and Giuseppe Ceccarelli.
Ahid innovatively reinterpreted Vibram soles to create innovative footwear such as slip-ons with padded uppers.
ID Eight made sneakers made 100 percent in Italy using sustainable materials derived from fruit waste, fabrics obtained from plastic recycling and soles entirely made from recycled rubber.
Micam also hosted Micam X and The Retail of the future, a section dedicated to new technologies involving both the digital sector in production and sales, but also through new production techniques such as those offered by augmented reality and 3-D printers applied to the world of footwear.
Mipel was actively engaged in drawing attention in the market with a series of new initiatives.
Among the various projects at the fair, in addition to a trends area that involved some young artists in live painting actions and a renewed display of trends and colors in the f/w 2023/2024, it hosted The Italian Start-Up project, a section dedicated to emerging brands in this sector featuring brands such as D1verso, Ni-Do, Noesi, Kjøre Project, and RDVO.
This area also saw the debut of Up To You Anthology, an online project and physical store in Milan, which sells exclusive models of bags designed by insiders of art, design and architecture, such as, for example, Giulio Cappellini, Zaha Hadid Design, Nendo, Vincent Van Duysen, and Candela Pelizza, made entirely in Italy.
"The market is experiencing a disjointed restart. We are working hard to collaborate with buyers to support them in this phase," explained Danny D'Alessandro, general manager, Assopellettieri, Mipel.
Commenting on the Assopellettieri’s commitment to supporting the environmental cause, he added: "There are certain themes inseparable from fashion today. That is sustainability and care for the environment. That's why we have to deal with circular economy by making sure that our waste is considered a resource. For this reason, and for the good of the whole industry, we are focusing on an industrial plan based on three pillars: training of the younger generations, actions in favor of the circular economy, and encouragement toward increasingly collaborative relationships on brands and manufacturers, for companies that do not produce their products in-house," he explained.
“Today there are 42,000 employees working in this sector. They could be the double if the right investments were recalled in the country. Robotics cannot substitute hand labor, especially in a sector as labor-intensive as this one. If we will be able to establish the right education system, and in this sector there is a strong request of workers, who are also well-paid. Education is key at all levels - for recruiting new workers and for preserving the environment.”
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