EXCELLENT RESULTS FOR THE FOURTH EDITION OF PITTI W:
DOUBLE-DIGIT INCREASE IN BUYER ATTENDANCE FOR THE WOMEN’S PRE-COLLECTIONS

The fourth edition of Pitti W _ Woman Precollection (Florence, 16-19 June 2009) ended with excellent results in terms of buyer attendance. During the four days of the event, the Dogana and Villa Vittoria welcomed roughly 4,400 buyers who came to see the collections by more than 60 firms. This is a 10% increase in the number of buyers (4,000 came to the last summer edition) and a 20% rise in the number of registered stores and boutiques. The 1,200 foreign buyers accounted for nearly 30% of the total.

“We are very satisfied with these results”, says Raffaello Napoleone, CEO of Pitti Immagine, “they are numbers that confirm the importance – and the role – of Pitti W on the women’s fashion trade fair scenario. Pitti W is a new project that has proved itself and it demonstrates how important precollections are on the market. In launching the project two years ago we got into this market, and with Pitti W we have succeeded in providing a concrete response to the needs of the firms and the buyers. The excellent results of this edition and the all-round approval ratings for the new sections – Designer Collections at Villa Vittoria and the two new projects we launched at this edition dedicated to fragrances and vintage at the Dogana – prompt us to continue investing in the event. We will keep on with our international scouting and product segmentation to offer our top buyers the best and most avant-garde women’s precollections each season”. 

Looking at the foreign attendance data we have to emphasize the excellent turnouts from the United States and Holland (more than double the number of buyers) and the growth on the parts of Germany, Switzerland, Great Britain, Spain and China. In the country rankings first place goes to Japan, followed by Germany, Spain, Holland, France, China, Switzerland, Austria, Great Britain, United States, Belgium, Greece, South Korea and Russia.

And finally, a word about the attention both buyers and the press devoted to the group of young, talented Brit designers who were the stars of the Designer Collection section at Villa Vittoria (Christopher Kane, Emma Cook, Jonathan Saunders, Markus Lupfer, Preen, and Richard Nicoll), and to the special projects presented at the Dogana by designer Catherine Malandrino and the brand Kartell by .normaluisa.