Memberships are increasing ahead of Mipel. The appointment with the leading leather goods event is set for Sept. 18-20 at Fiera Milano Rho and it is edition number 122. Which opens under good auspices. "As number of exhibitors, we are currently up 15 percent compared to March and 30 percent compared to the one dedicated to summer, which was staged last September," Mipel and Assopellettieri president Franco Gabbrielli anticipated to MFF. "We are not yet at pre-Covid levels but we are slowly getting there."
The association released industry data for the first quarter on July 21st, showing an increase in exports of 19.5 percent in value over the same period in 2021 and 5.2 percent over 2019, resulting in a turnover from exports of nearly 2.7 billion in the three months. It will be a Mipel under the banner of technology and digital. First and foremost, Assopellettieri has renewed its partnership with Mirta, already the star of the March edition. The b2b portal created to connect small luxury artisan realities with international boutiques will curate, as in edition 121, an innovative exhibition area dedicated to the artisans of leather goods made in Italy. The absolute novelty, however, concerns the 3D presentation of Mipel's fashion trends, the result of a project carried out in collaboration with Impersive, a company specializing in the creation of three-dimensional videos for fashion, which obtained the placet of the Lombardy Region, thus entering the call for tenders for the support of the Lombard fair system co-financed by the Region. "The idea stems from an augmented reality project launched in the last edition of Mipel lab," pointed out Danny D'Alessandro, ceo of Mipel.
In the platform dedicated to leather goods sourcing, which takes place at the same time as Lineapelle, there was in fact a black cube inside which there was a maxi ledwall where videos dedicated to the hidden part of the production cycle were scrolling, in particular the complete production of a bag physically present in the cube. "This way we can also tell school children and their families that leather goods is a dynamic and evolved sector that offers stable, well-paid, quality work," D'Alessandro pointed out.
The limitation of the cube is portability, and for this reason in Mipel they have thought of 3D evolution with the use of oculus, which will be used not only for the telling of the production cycle in Mipel lab but also for the presentation of trends in the leather goods fair. "We are in the age of metaverse and this tool allows us to enter the world of super sensory, achieving the wow effect, an important storytelling and a gift to send to key stakeholders in our industry," the ceo concluded. Returning to the collaboration with Mirta, Chairman Gabbrielli highlights the potential benefits to support small brands in an industry characterized by double speed. On the one hand, big brands are growing in double digits; on the other, independents lack the resources to invest in marketing and communication. "The gap between the big guys and the small guys continues to widen. There are very good opportunities in nations like the United States, which, however, being large and complex, are not addressable by independent brands. The contribution of a marketplace like Mirta is crucial because it offers the possibility of collecting small orders from the most prestigious boutiques. The main target of this collaboration is precisely related to the markets that are strategic for us in the U.S. and Far East."
As for the expectations of international buyers at the fair, Franco Gabbrielli says he is confident. "We will return to meet Asians, although they will not be present en masse as before the pandemic, but this is a first step toward a return to normality," concluded the president of Mipel and Assopellettieri. (reproduction restricted).
