The 96th edition of Pitti Immagine Filati (Florence, January 28-30, 2025) concluded with widespread satisfaction and optimism among all industry professionals attending at the Fortezza da Basso. Over the three-day event, attendance reached 2,850 buyers, including 1,050 international attendees from more than 50 countries. The fair unveiled Spring-Summer 2026 yarn collections, designed and produced by leading Italian and international spinners, alongside innovations from key knitwear companies – 114 exhibitors in total. Including media representatives, agents, and suppliers, the total visitor count stood at approximately 3,400.
Once again, Pitti Filati has reaffirmed its role as the industry’s benchmark event. It is the only platform that offers all levels of the supply chain the highest standards of research and creativity in the world of yarns. At the Fortezza, within the new collections and company innovations, we witnessed the exceptional adaptability that the spinning sector is deploying to meet market demands and support its evolution. These three intense days of business revealed a widespread sense of confidence, with industry professionals anticipating a trend reversal in fashion by Spring-Summer 2026 – early signs of which were already visible in this presentation cycle — Raffaello Napoleone, CEO of Pitti Immagin.
On the international front, the event saw growing attendance from the United Kingdom, the United States, Russia, Portugal, and Belgium, while numbers showed a slight decline from Switzerland, Turkey, and China. France maintained its position as the leading country in international attendance, followed by the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Japan, China, Russia, Portugal, and Belgium.
These three days were filled with energy and creative exchange for all industry professionals. It was an essential and irreplaceable opportunity for dialogue, a mutual push towards research and creativity across all phases of knitwear production. This sentiment was echoed in the feedback we gathered from buyers– including the design team of the most prestigious Italian and international fashion brands – as well as from exhibitors at the Fortezza. A major contribution in this direction came from ‘Spazio Ricerca – Body of Light,’ curated by Angelo Figus, Carrie Hollands, and Manuela Sandroni – once again an unmissable destination for insights into future trends. Additional pivotal contributions came from the ‘CustomEasy’ and ‘KnitClub’ areas, which provided in-depth exploration of customization and knitting techniques. Likewise, the ‘Vintage Selection’ – the fair within the fair dedicated to vintage fashion – proved to be an endless source of inspiration for design teams attending Filati — Agostino Poletto, General Director of Pitti Immagine.
The final day of PittiFilati also hosted a new session of the CFMI Academy, a program dedicated to industrial culture and sustainability in fashion, aimed at Fashion Design students. This initiative is organized by Centro di Firenze per la Moda Italiana, Pitti Immagine, and UniCredit, in collaboration with Piattaforma Sistema Formativo Moda and Polimoda as educational partners.
This session marked the launch of the first workshop under the new CFMI Academy call for projects, which has evolved from a training initiative into a full-fledged Fashion Incubator. During the event, five selected entrepreneurial projects participated in a series of intensive mentoring sessions.
The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the ICE Agency support the Pitti Immagine 2025 fashion fairs.
The program of incoming delegations dedicated to buyers and international members of the trade
The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, along with the ICE – Italian Foreign Trade Promotion and Internationalization Agency, played a pivotal role in promoting Florence’s significance within the global fashion industry. This partnership was aimed at enhancing Italy’s fashion export strategies by supporting the 2025 Pitti Immagine fashion shows. Their contribution was crucial for hosting international delegations of top foreign trade members and facilitating various communication initiatives.
Agostino Poletto, the General Manager of Pitti Immagine, highlighted the value of this collaboration in expanding the global reach of Italian fashion. He emphasized that the resources provided helped bring together influential fashion and lifestyle buyers from around the world, especially those from emerging markets. This initiative not only targeted potential new customers for high-quality Made in Italy products but also strengthened relationships with markets that had already become increasingly important for domestic exhibitors. Poletto also praised the expertise of the ICE offices abroad, which brought a deep understanding of local distribution and consumption trends, vital for crafting effective programs.
This collaboration further solidified Florence’s role as a key hub in the international fashion industry while promoting Italy’s heritage and craftsmanship on a global scale.
UniCredit is Pitti Immagine’s Main Partner
UniCredit had been at the side of Pitti Immagine since 2020 as the main partner of the fairs, contributing ideas and projects to support the development of the territories and the manufacturing and market excellence of Made in Italy represented at the Pitti Immagine fairs.
This partnership was further enriched by a special focus on training following the creation of the CFMI Academy in January 2024, a result of the collaboration between Centro di Firenze per la Moda Italiana, Pitti Immagine, and UniCredit. The project, which evolved from a seminar-style training event to a design research journey through a new open call, aimed to add momentum to entrepreneurial ideas and launch a new generation of creatives, designers, and entrepreneurs devoted to fashion, a key sector of Made in Italy that was undergoing significant changes.
“The CFMI Academy,” explained Stefano Gallo, Territorial Development Manager of UniCredit, “confirmed the attention and support that the bank had reserved for this leading Made in Italy sector across multiple fronts. Supporting new entrepreneurs was part of our business mission, as was backing innovation that empowered sector companies throughout their journey into digital evolution, supply chain traceability, and towards circular economy models. Through the Academy, we intended to contribute to the concrete development of the entrepreneurial skills of young people, allowing them to personally experience the challenges and satisfactions of starting up a business. By making the know-how of our professionals available, we would accompany them in this important step, assisting the creation of a new generation of creative talents who would make their mark on the Italian fashion industry, overcoming the challenges of innovation and sustainability.”
FIRE – the new theme of the Pitti Immagine winter fairs
The Pitti Immagine winter fairs had chosen the unifying element of fire to express the characteristics and spirit of the next season: FIRE was the theme that would distinguish the new advertising campaigns coordinated by the creative director Angelo Figus, with graphic editing by Alessandro Gori. The “Flames of Light” campaign for Pitti Filati was designed by Alessandro Cracolici, who had conjured up worlds of warm and incandescent colored yarns that recalled the creative force of fire, an essential tool for developing new works of abstract art. Finally, the layout at the Fortezza da Basso promised to be captivating. A digital bonfire was to be lit on the Main Forecourt, where the flames would be conveyed by videos and lettering in a hypnotic visual game.
“This is recognition of the generative force of this primary element,” commented Agostino Poletto, General Manager of Pitti Immagine. “Fire brings together and warms bodies and souls, it attracts attention and marks out the direction, it is used to play, astonish, inspire, to merge old ideas and habits and forge new ones. Just like fashion does. We will make sparks, we will ignite desires, we will focus on problems and proposals. As the Pitti fairs have always done.”
BODY OF LIGHT – The new Spazio Ricerca
In Body of light, the theme of the new Spazio Ricerca curated by Angelo Figus, Carrie Hollands and Manuela Sandroni, we felt it was important to find new tools for looking at reality objectively without fallingvictim to the failure to comprehend what is happening around us. Science and rationality may not be enough to explain what we see, feel, experience and are. We have to start seeing things in a broader and more complete way, using additional, complementary, more diverse tools of knowledge. The materialistic vision is the biggest limit to overcome, even when selling new products. Our companies are not just places of work, they are spiritual entities. Our products are also spiritual beings, or it would be better to say elemental ones. The search for light sums up the spirit of the new trends which focus on three aspects of observation that correspond to three ways of feeling and acting.
Projects and special participations @ PittiFilati 96
CFMI Academy
The operational research project for fashion students continues to evolve
The project for fashion design students, which takes a deeper look at industrial culture and sustainability in fashion, continued at the Centro di Firenze, implemented by La Moda Italiana, Pitti Imagine and UniCredit, in collaboration with Piattaforma Sistema Formativo Moda and Polimoda. On Thursday, January 30, 2025, the last day of Pitti Filati, at the UniCredit Filati Arena in Fortezza da Basso, another meeting took place with the Design Research Journey which aims to promote entrepreneurial ideas and launch a new generation of fashion creatives, designers and entrepreneurs.
CUSTOMEASY and KNITCLUB: two constantly
growing sections
CustomEasy is a project that was designed to take a deeper look at the different aspects of customisation and to offer visitors a comprehensive, contemporary and fluid exhibition itinerary that integrates the different skills in the field of textiles. The presence of textile machines and the refinements of washing applied to luxury knitwear were accompanied by other moments of the creative process – from embroidery to finishing and spinning, from the cut to the design software. In this edition an installation of 50 mannequins accompanied visitors back to the Sala Alfa, again under the creative guidance of Maurizio Brocchetto. Knitclub, the section dedicated to the most exclusive knitwear manufacturers, confirms its commercial development with SpazioRicerca on the lower level of the main pavilion.
And, linked to the Customeasy area, the new Styling Room, an exclusive area inside the Sala Alfa created under the creative guidance of Maurizio Brocchetto, where some selected exhibitors were showcased all their creativity and mastery through special and innovative customization proposals.
VINTAGE SELECTION – The key reference fair for vintage enthusiasts
The Vintage Selection No. 43, the main reference fair dedicated to vintage clothing and accessories, was held from January 28 to 30 at the Ghiaia Pavilion in Fortezza da Basso. Hot Stuff! is the theme of this edition, inspired by the Pitti Imagine Winter Fair and applied to the layout elements of the fair. The event is reserved for Pitti Filati buyers.
