Leather&Luxury met with Massimo Mosiello, General Manager of Milano Unica, the Italian Textile Show, to talk about current events in the sector. The event recently concluded its winter edition; the next appointment is in Rho Milano Fiera on July 11th,12th and 13rd, 2023.
Dr. Mosiello, what is the historical industrial context of the moment?
"Our companies, after a difficult period, have regained great momentum in the production of quality products. The whole events sector has restarted with so much satisfaction after the blockade had also put many quality Made in Italy companies specializing, for example, in formal wear, in difficulty. Already in '22 there were important increases in turnover, in '23 the trend seems to be even more positive."
Instead, about the historical exhibition context?
"Today's February 2023 edition is back to having the numbers of February 2020 (475 exhibitors vs. 477 in 2020 - nda).However, I would like to stop making comparisons between the current moment and the pre-Covid period because we are living in a completely different world than before. Many companies are no longer there, others have continued their business without participating in fairs. They had to do without them during the pandemic, so they turned their investments elsewhere and found alternative avenues of development.
In addition, the trade fair as an event has changed its role, it has become more important: until 15 years ago it was simply a meeting occasion between customer and supplier. Now it has become a time to compare, to listen, to meet. We talk about trends, sustainability, updates. MU then is a fair that is different from the others, my incipit is always this: it is a fair wanted by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs where we welcome only medium-high quality companies."
What are the future initiatives that will cover Milano Unica?
"Our activity is concentrated here in the usual two editions in February and July. Then there are two other extremely important moments for trends-March and October. We also continue to invest in our digital platform "MilanoUnica Connect," which we have affiliated with Pitti Connect with which we have a fruitful relationship. We operate in a world that is not used to using these kinds of tools, and it is important for us trade show organizers to emphasize that no digital experience can replace our hands and eyes. It is basic, though, to stay in touch with the market between trade show editions, and that is the role of Milano Unica Connect. We are going to fill our platform with content to make it more and more attractive to buyers. We will ask each registered company to provide us with products that we will have professionally photographed and then create stories on the platform. All this will hopefully serve to attract buyers who from these stories can go and search online for the catalogs of individual companies."
Finally Dr. Mosiello, how do you assess this edition of MU?
"Without talking about numbers, we are very happy. We registered a significant increase in attendance from abroad-Japan, Korea, the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Spain. The buyers are moving again. MU is an event that attracts an international audience, and that means promoting the country system. I don't understand why there are still some Italian companies that prefer to present their collections in Paris (Première Vision - nda) rather than here in Milan. We are working with ICE to organize delegations of carefully selected operators from overseas: about 120 people including Americans, Japanese, Australians and even Africans. Watch out for Africa, it could be the market of the future, so we need to get there a bit early to get an edge over our competitors."
