Lineapelle is back, now in its 94th edition. The trade fair for alternative leathers, accessories, components and materials for customers in the fashion & luxury industry, furnishings and automotive will take place from tomorrow Tuesday 20 February to Thursday 22 February at Fieramilano Rho. A sector that with its 50 companies generates an annual turnover of more than 150 billion dollars.
1.254 exhibitors for a total of 44 countries, an increase of 5% compared to the seasonal reference edition of February 2017. Both Italian (+4%) and foreign (+6%) presences are on the increase. The exhibition area also expanded, exceeding 47.000 square meters (+3%).
Confirmed the three Trend Areas (Hall 13, 9 and 22) where visitors can explore the innovative approach of the exhibitors, touching about 2.000 product samples developed by declining the Empathy trend mood, designed for the Spring/Summer 2019 season.
Lineapelle94 falls into an economic phase characterized by reassuring growth trends in production segments such as leather goods and the automotive sector and in a significant part of the clientele. However, gray areas remain, from the slow pace of footwear to the criticality of markets such as the United States or China itself, whose recovery is marked by a manufacturing transformation process more focused on domestic demand.
Laboratory of ideas and projects, Lineapelle94 offers a rich calendar of events and workshops, in the name of innovation.
On Tuesday 20 February we explore the future. Modern Meadow presents the Zoa™ project, which harnesses the power of design, biology and engineering to envision the manufacturing development of the world's first “bioleather” material. Following the illustration of the Lineapelle Innovation Square project, a 3-day event scheduled for the next edition (25/27 September), to discover new and selected technologies and business solutions of particular relevance for Lineapelle's reference sectors.
The International Tanning and Chemicals Conference takes place on Wednesday 21 February. Organized by Unic (National Union of the Tanning Industry) and Cotance (the European Confederation of Tanning Associations), it offers a series of highly topical reflections on the topic of tanning chemistry and on the risk and opportunity aspects linked to the different types of process. The working day ends with the presentation of the projects and services of the Pelli Experimental Station. All events take place at the Lem of Ponte dei Mari, Pavilion 22 side.
The usual fashion presentations (Tuesdays and Wednesdays) and the meeting on the protection of innovative design and company know-how organized by Icec, the Tannery Certification Institute, take place at the Fashion Theater in Pavilion 15.
Lineapelle94 looks to the future with a particular eye for the new generations and hosts the seventh edition of Amici per la Pelle, a competition reserved for the second and third classes of lower secondary schools present in the Italian leather districts. Artistic/educational project, involving over 1.000 students, invited to represent a symbolic monument of their territory using leather. It is possible to visit Museum Tan, the gallery of all the works presented, in Pavilion 9. Voting is open at the fair and online. The awards ceremony is held on the morning of Thursday 22, at the Fieramilano Rho Auditorium.
There are also some innovations designed to make the fair experience of buyers and visitors more welcoming and stimulating. The signage inside the fair has undergone a profound functional and aesthetic restyling, to improve its usability and update its visual impact.
New life also for the lounge areas. Lineapelle94 renews the concept, transforming them into spaces for discovering Made in Italy and its excellence. Three of them host case histories that have made the history of design: the Boat Lounge is dedicated to Riva hulls; the Furniture Lounge presents the uniqueness of Poltrona Frau upholstered furniture; the Automotive Lounge brings the iconic 500 Topolino Fiat to the fair. Case in itself, the area reserved for the Pompeii tannery and the restoration project, which sees Unic and Lineapelle as protagonists, is entering its most important phase.
