“It's not just us who travels: we bring customers here, to show them how the product is made and what Made in Italy is”. “There are 1 billion people in the world who have emerged from poverty: an immense market to turn to”. Not only nouveau riche, therefore, and above all fewer missions abroad but enhancement of local manufacturing, art linked to fashion and the territory. The winter edition of Pitti Immagine in Florence opens with these ideas, pronounced respectively by the Deputy Minister for Economic Development Carlo Calenda and by the President of Sistema Italia Moda Claudio Marenzi, whose inauguration was also attended by the mayor and secretary of the Pd Matteo Renzi.
The Florentine exhibition, which begins today and lasts until January 10, welcomes 30 thousand visitors and sees the exhibition of 1.047 brands, of which almost 40% foreign, representing thirty countries, and is hand-in-hand with Milan, where in fashion shows are held at the same time. "Fair here, fashion shows in Milan", is the concept repeatedly mentioned during the opening conference, with a view to a fashion system that enhances Italian multicentrism but also knows how to network at a national level. “France is Paris, England is London, Italy is many things”, is in fact remarked by many.
As per tradition, the January appointment is dedicated to men, whose market was growing in 2013. “Sales rose by 1% to 8,6 billion euros – recalls Marenzi – which, compared to the entire fashion turnover, equal to 51 billion, gives around 17% of the share”. As usual, exports are driving this moderate but significant increase: 5,24 billion in sales come from abroad, up 3,7%, while imports fell by 5% in the year just ended. If anything, the surprise is that it is not only non-EU trade that contributes to the trend, on the contrary.
Of the countries that import Italian men's fashion, the first is confirmed to be France, with 12,1% of the market share (down by 1,1%), ahead of Switzerland and Germany: in general, almost 53% of the menswear line produced in the boot is sold in EU countries. The first non-European is the United States with 9%, while 2013 was definitely the year of the Spanish boom: 5,6%, up by 15,3%. China also rises a lot, where, however, it sells for "only" 122 million euros (2,8% of the share) and South Korea emerges with great career: 68 million, only 1,6% but with +34 % in the last 12 months.
These last two data confirm another trend evoked at Pitti: the great driving force is and remains the East, where in addition to China and Japan there are interesting emerging markets such as Korea or South-East Asia. On this issue, even if mainly addressing a slightly closer market such as the Russian one, the results of the first year of the Unicredit International Fashion project, present in Florence with the managing director Federico Ghizzoni, were also illustrated. “To date we have disbursed almost 100 million in new loans and over 100 of the companies indicated by the Florence Center for Italian Fashion (the Cfmi chaired by Stefano Rossi, ed), exhibiting at Pitti in Florence and at the Cpm in Moscow, have taken advantage of the Unicredit products dedicated to their international business,” said Ghizzoni.
In the perspective of internationalization and exports, there was also the contribution of the "UniCredit International per la Moda" portal, which recorded around 8.000 unique visitors during the year, offering various services including tools for researching foreign markets where to start new export activities and sector reports prepared by UniCredit. Among the main objectives of the project was also the strategic support of a selected number of "top" small and medium-sized enterprises of the "made in Italy" in fashion: today there are more than 70 who are developing strategic projects with the Bank, finalizing acquisitions and alliances thanks to scouting, M&A, equity and structured financing operations, also through the new mini-bond tool.
However, Unicredit has not limited itself to financing: it has organized specific actions aimed at foreign markets: 380 companies participated in the "Destination China" initiative held last October in Florence and Naples, created with the aim of supporting companies in the sector Fashion & Luxury in exporting to the Chinese market. Two "B2B footwear and accessories" took place in November, with over 600 meetings of the 100 participating companies with 20 buyers from Canada, South Korea, Lebanon, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Germany and Poland. Next 16-18 January a B2B children's clothing will take place at Pitti Bimbo, where 30 exporting companies are already expected.
However, Unicredit International for Fashion is part of the broader Unicredit program for Italy, launched in March 2012 with the aim of accompanying at least 20.000 companies in the country abroad and providing new finance for at least 40 billion euros by 2015. Since the launch of the programme, over 12.000 companies have started or increased their foreign business with UniCredit and, of these, over 750 belong to the fashion sector. The new loans disbursed exceeded 23 billion euros, of which 800 million were disbursed to over 5.500 Italian fashion companies.
