About my first visit to a textile exhibition
Ciao, Milano Unica!
Within last week the two main international exhibitions dedicated to fabrics and accessories were held. They are representing new developments in textiles for Autumn/Winter 2024 season.
And since my colleagues visited one of them, Premiere Vision in Paris, and I headed to Milano Unica in Milan, I’d like without delay tell about my impressions.
It was my first time at a textile exhibition, I registered there as a “press” (I haven’t told you yet that I am a member of the Italian Bloggers Association, for a minute), mostly because the registration for the representatives of the companies ended quite early, and I was late. Most of all it reminded me visiting Tranoi tradeshow in Paris back when I was a buyer for KM20 concept store.
Milano Unica is the largest exhibition that represents mainly Italian companies producing textiles, accessories and packaging. And this is probably the main difference from Premiere Vision in Paris, where there are representatives of the textile industry from all over the world.
The exhibition, held for the 37th time, consists of 4 huge pavilions, divided according to the specialization of the 562 companies represented there:
Silky Print / Knit / Lace & Embroidery
Accessories
Shirt
Techno / Cotton Woolly
+ separate stands dedicated to Metaverse, Sustainability, Innovation, Vintage, as well special sections for manufacturers from Japan and Korea.
What I liked as a person who was more likely to observe the organizational part, and not to sign a partnership:
- fairly easy navigation with a clear location map
- Milano Unica application with geolocation, and the most important, a list of all participants with their contacts, divided by specialization (an invaluable resource, I take it from my heart for you)
- nice stands at the entrance to the pavilion, designed by the companies themselves, and presenting all the most interesting fabrics of this season (without them, it would be much more difficult to understand where to go in the first place):
- a vintage stand where you could buy clothes and accessories, as well as sets of vintage buttons, embroideries and hangers:
- lunch! I will not dissemble, after several hours at the exhibition it is essential to snack, and the Italians know a lot about this!
- the visitors and participants themselves. This is the place where you understand that the fashion industry is really an INDUSTRY, everyone is very beautiful, and very businesslike.
What I missed was a large education stand and a book section with dedicated to professional literature. There were 4 cubes with books on textiles, but it’s so little, even the Hoepli, my favorite bookstore in Milano, has has many more books on the subject.
Speaking of visitors, not all of them were brand representatives, I saw a lot of students and independent designers who were trend watching in general, without signing contracts. The only sad thing is that at some stands you are not allowed to make photos.
A funny thought came to me at the vintage stand, when I, dressed in a Zara collar I bought the other day, saw its distant relatives from the 20s and 30s. Because here is THE place where the ideas are reborn!
I at some point really wanted to buy myself some vintage accessory, but ended up with vintage hangers from an old Milanese haute couture company. Will frame them and place in my new apartment. If I will find any, finally.
If we talk about trends, then I noticed a large number of voluminous applications on fabrics, unusual lace, coats, metallic finishes and quite a lot of floral motifs, despite the fact that this is the autumn-winter season. Colors - mostly ocher, lots of black and metallic threads.
Let's see if they will be embodied in the AW2023 collections.
For comparison, see two trend reports from Premier Vision and Milano Unica:
Premiere Vision
Milano Unica
Enjoy! and baci!