"The 24th edition of Milano Unica, the Italian Textiles and Accessories Trade Show, held at Fiera Milano Rho from February 1 to 3, closed with positive sentiments especially from exhibitors, with regard the quality of contacts registered, thanks to the accurate selection made by the organisers. The edition included 427 exhibitors, of whom 300 were Italian, 65 European and 40 Japanese and 22 Korean."

The 24th edition of Milano Unica, the Italian Textiles and Accessories Trade Show, held at Fiera Milano Rho from February 1 to 3, closed with positive sentiments especially from exhibitors, with regard the quality of contacts registered, thanks to the accurate selection made by the organisers. The edition included 427 exhibitors, of whom 300 were Italian, 65 European and 40 Japanese and 22 Korean.

Ercole Botto Poala, President of Milano Unica inaugurated the fair. With a strong foreign participation, particularly important was the return of companies from the Russian Federation (+34 per cent). A growing trend is the participation of companies from the UK (+4 per cent), US (+2 per cent), Canada (+29 per cent) and China (+6 per cent), despite the concurrent occurrence of the Chinese New Year. At the same time participation from Japan and Turkey has gone down. The number of German operators too reduced.

Gearing up for the next edition

“The 25th edition of Milano Unica will be an additional confirmation that the route focusing on innovation and quality – the one that we are consistently pursuing – is the winning one not only from an image perspective, but also in terms of the commercial and marketing results obtained. This route, meant to make Milano Unica the perfect vehicle to showcase the excellence of Made-in-Italy and Made-in-Europe production, needs additional action, but we are confident and positive. Milano Unica will increasingly become an exhibition to show excellence, innovation and creativity to the world, confirming that fabrics and accessories – above all those Made in Italy and also a selection of the best Made-in-Europe products – represent the starting point for inspiration of international fashion,” commented Poala.

Poala said the interest attracted by MU365, a platform for selected customers to establish face-to-face with exhibitors every day, at any time round the clock, created in collaboration with the US Sundar startup, is proof of their focus on technology and determination to contribute to the growth of the industry. The said this is also a way to attract young talent and create opportunities for them. He urged participants to invest in young talent, adopt a startups, to stimulate action. “I also would like to underscore the importance of the ‘Back to School’ project, which closed with the enthusiastic success of Sir Paul Smith’s presentation before approximately 1,000 students attending international fashion schools. Ahead of us lies the challenge of the July edition, but I am confident that we will face it successfully,” addded.

Focus on youth

Keeping youth in focus the ‘Magazzini Aperti’ project developed in collaboration with Regione Lombardia, Piattaforma Sistema Formativo Moda and Milano Unica presented work by final year students of 10 fashion schools were presented, using fabrics and accessories donated by Milano Unica exhibitors.

The Trend Area, restyled both in terms of space and creativity, and the consolidation of the Japan Observatory and Korea Observatory, which demonstrated the complimentarity of excellent products was great attraction for visitors and exhibitors alike.