Pitti Uomo 101 is now underway, kicking off with its first day today. For snapshots & insights straight from Pitti, follow along with our Digital Buyers Guide.

At Pitti Uomo 101, a special preview will take place: the launch of “Metamorphosis”, the new collection of KNT, the acronym of Kiton New Textures, which is the urbanwear brand created in Italy by the twins Mariano and Walter De Matteis, the third generation of the family.

The KNT laboratory never stops. An acronym for Kiton New Textures, the brand has been launched in 2018 at the behest of twins Mariano and Walter De Matteis, the third generation of the family, and represents the experimental soul of the Kiton group. Increasingly defined in its cosmopolitan identity, KNT has combined research into fibers, yarns, and workmanship with sophisticated and effortless designs.

See more from 11 to 13 January, at the Fortezza da Basso, in a special dedicated area inside the Piazzale delle Ghiaia.

Our brand new issue of WeAr Magazine is now out! Issue 69 kicks off 2022 with everything you need to level up your business. Topics include:

– Digital fashion

– Fashion & Technology Alliance

– Phygital Experiences

– Best Fashion Retailers

and more…

Get WeAr Magazine Issue 69 in Print or Digital now via our bookstore. 

In a new exclusive series, LVMH gives voice to its talents to embody its new employer brand signature « Craft the future».

Each portrait highlights the way in which employees craft the future of luxury thanks to the four core values of the Group – innovation and creativity, entrepreneurial spirit, quest for excellence and a sense of commitment. A sense of commitment that guides them in the development of more sustainable practices and products, but also in the transmission to the next generations of the savoir-faire and legacy of its 75 Maisons.

LVMH and its Maisons are a playground where employees can fully express their passion for their métiers in their own way. Distinctive profiles that enrich the Group.

-In the first episode, we meet Cathelijne, who works on the development of LVMH’s sustainable sourcing strategy for raw materials. Her mission: developing best practices to contribute to the Group’s ambitious environmental objectives.

-In the second episode, meet Mathias, Director of Research & Development at Hublot. With his team, he continuously develops materials and mechanisms in the spirit of innovation and creativity of the Maison.

-In the third episode, discover Georgiana’s journey. She is an artisan from Loro Piana who participates in the creation of high-quality sweaters by assembling different knitwear items. She shares her passion for her métier every day by passing on her unique savoir-faire to the next generations.

You can discover 5 more episodes on the LVMH website as well as social media platforms until the beginning of 2022.

MUNICH FABRIC START Spring/Summer 23 taking place from 25th – 27th January 2022, has been cancelled.

BLUEZONE can’t happen in January 2022 as well, but will be moved to 3 – 4 May 2022 as a stand-alone denim and innovation concept on the Zenith grounds in Munich.

“As trade fair organisers, in addition to the major economic risk, we also have a high social responsibility. Due to current developments, we unfortunately have no other option than to cancel MUNICH FABRIC START. At the same time, we see a great opportunity in being able to offer a physical platform for denim and innovations in Munich from 3 – 4 May 2022: BLUEZONE X KEYHOUSE. There, you will find an impressive new format in the style of a blue festival with currently over 90 exhibiting denim mills and innovators.” – Sebastian Klinder

The Dior Fall 2022 men’s runway show went on the road to London.  Menswear artistic director Kim Jones drew inspiration from Jack Kerouac and his passion for innovation, a theme that resonates powerfully with Maison Dior. The world of On The Road – the American author’s second novel, is referenced in the collection’s different pieces.

From counterculture to culture, the collection merges the finesse of Parisian couture with the modern, casual ease of American sportswear.

Fair Isle knits are intricately embroidered with sequins, and cloqués are woven with the “CD Diamond” logo. The graphics of Dior carré scarves adorn shifts and jackets, each featuring a letter “D” framing a vision of a great American national park, including Yellowstone, Yosemite and Kerouac’s Big Sur.

The runway décor reinvented the legendary manuscript of On The Road, a continuous 120-foot scroll. This tribute to travel and America included a recreation of the library of rare first editions and documents in Kim Jones’ London home, curated by Sammy Jay, Literary Specialist at Peter Harrington rare book dealers.

In this latest collection, the new era of literature marked by Jack Kerouac meets the world of fashion by Kim Jones for Dior.

UK-based online fashion retail platform Farfetch has purchased resale platform LUXCLUSIF for an undisclosed amount.

LUXCLUSIF is a business-to-business (B2B) service provider that enables luxury goods to be acquired, authenticated and sold to and from auctions, retailers, e-commerce platforms and stores worldwide.

Farfetch said it has worked closely with the platform for a number of years, first through its start-up accelerator program and most recently through Farfetch’s resale service, Farfetch Second Life.

This week at Campomaggi’s “The Noise of Necessity” event in Milan, a live story was told, which represented a new way of recounting something essential to the Campomaggi brand, but going beyond that, experiencing it out loud.

Campomaggi is synonymous with craftsmanship and constant experimentation, but also with values that go beyond the idea of producing “fashionable” bags. A way of thinking that values inexperience as much as experience, the beauty of the imperfect, the richness that the signs of time and use leave on objects. Encounters, defeats, mistakes, individual choices, progressive discovery of oneself and one’s abilities, listening to one’s own noise and following one’s own convictions: many choices contribute to create a path of which often only the final success is told. Perhaps, however, the most important thing is hidden in what happened in the meantime, which makes this path a unique life story.

The book Campomaggi is a story in which it is easy to recognize oneself, because everyone has their own Noise of Necessity and it is important to know and listen to it in order to arrive at their own unique realization. Hence the idea of presenting the book through excellent interpretations and voices, starting from the very powerful voice of Roberto Mercadini, author-actor, writer, poet and popularizer who describes his storytelling in this way: “I tell stories (that contain other stories). Sometimes on a stage. Sometimes on video. Sometimes inside a book.”

The applications for the 9^th edition of the LVMH Prize will open from 8th December 2021.

Applications must be submitted on the Prize website: lvmhprize.com.

They will close on Sunday 30^th January 2022. The semi-final will take place on Wednesday 2^nd March 2022.

It will be available for viewing on the Prize website and social networks from Thursday 3^rd to Sunday 6^th March 2022, and will be an opportunity for the Prize Experts and the public to discover and select the competing designers.

LVMH launched the Prize for Young Fashion Designers in 2013. This initiative, open to fashion throughout the world, embodies the commitment to patronage of the Group and its Houses in favour of young talent.

The LVMH Prize is open to designers under 40 who have produced at least two collections of womenswear or menswear, or two genderless collections and is dedicated to designers from all over the world.

It rewards two designers:

-The winner of the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designersreceives a 300,000-euro endowment and enjoys a tailored mentorship. The LVMH teams mentor the winners in many fields, such as sustainable development, communication, copyright and corporate legal aspects, as well as marketing, production and the financial management of a brand.

-The winner of the Karl Lagerfeld Prizereceives a 150,000-euro allocation and also enjoys a one-year mentorship by LVMH teams.

Furthermore, each year, in collaboration with fashion schools, the Prize distinguishes three young fashion school graduates. The three shortlisted graduates will be invited to join the design studios of Houses of the LVMH Group for one year. Applications are open from 8^th December 2021 to 15^th March 2022.

Burberry has launched a pop-up called “Imagined Landscapes” in department store Selfridges.

The “Imagined Landscapes” pop-up series was inspired by the brand’s first immersive brand experience in Jeju Island, Korea, where it built a large, “mirrored structure” which explores the brand’s “pioneering spirit and connection to the outdoors.”

The Selfridges pop-up carries a selection of exclusive styles, including casual shirts and knitwear and features images of the label’s outerwear campaign.

The Selfridges pop-up will remain open until January 16 2022.

On December the 4th 2021, Children of the discordance released Children of the discordance x Dover Street Market Ginza FW21, an exclusive capsule collection produced for Dover Street Market Ginza. The new capsule marks a new chapter of the long-term partnership of the Japanese brand with Dover Street Market Ginza.

The 5 styles collection, featuring a special hand-dyed bandana fabric, include a vintage bandana pullover, a vintage bandana bucket hat, an archive re-constructed t-shirt, and a Naoto Yoshida collaboration denim patch jacket and denim patch pants set-up.

The campaign produced for the capsule release features the worldwide recognised hip-hop artist Hideyoshi, already the protagonist, with his performance of dawn, the fashion movie released on the occasion of Milan Fashion Week in January 2021 to present the Children of the discordance FW21 collection.

The Children of the discordance x Dover Street Market Ginza FW21 capsule collection is exclusively available at Dover Street Market Ginza from December the 4th.

JOOR, the leading digital wholesale platform, released its end of year figures for 2021 and trend predictions moving forward into 2022. These data points confirm the continued acceleration of digital adoption among brands and retailers, and that even with the return of in-person markets and events, electronic B2B commerce continues to play an important and ever increasing role in the fashion ecosystem.

Key Takeaways…

-Hybrid model is here to stay: As physical events start to return, the industry does not want to lose the reach and efficiency afforded by virtual selling.

-Small business advancement: On the B2B side, JOOR observed a significant increase in small businesses leveraging our platform to source exciting product, streamline their wholesale process, create greater efficiencies, and drive growth. Recognizing the need to make discovery faster and smarter, JOOR will soon be launching a new and improved Marketplace, leveraging AI-powered search technology to make finding the perfect product for your store easy and efficient.

-Expansion throughout APAC: According to JOOR, APAC sales tripled versus the same period a year ago. While Japan is currently the largest APAC market on JOOR (approximately 30% of total), China is in the number two position and showing the fastest growth. This is evidenced by the success seen in 2021, with APAC-based brands accepting almost 50% more orders and selling over 80% more products on JOOR than in 2020.

-Sustainability still reigns: Sustainability is the #1 most clicked category across all of JOOR Passport. It represents 18% of clicks on ALL style stories across our 36 events this year. JOOR is working on providing information regarding product sustainability further upstream, allowing retailers to use this data to inform their purchasing decisions. Brands on JOOR have reported saving 30% on sample costs by adopting JOOR’s digital wholesale solution, a bene t to both the environment and the bottom line.

-Renewed focus on supply chain: Inventory Management – With JOOR’s wide array of seamless ERP integrations, buyers have real-time visibility to available inventory, so they can immediately see what’s in stock at any given moment in time. Because JOOR operates within one digital ecosystem, changes and delays can be communicated immediately—for example, if a style is canceled or a timeline is modified, brands can notify their retailers right away and offer an alternative to ensure no one is left unprepared.

Bravo’s “Project Runway”, Episode 1907: Are You Fur Real”, surprised contestants with a competition featuring faux fur made with Sorona. Sorona in collaboration with Ecopel developed Koba, one of the first commercially available bio-based faux fur collections. In the Avant Garde challenge, designers were paired up and asked to select from over 200 yards of the plant-based and recyclable faux fur in a wide range of colors, patterns and lengths. Judges Nina Garcia and Elaine Welteroth were joined by guest judge Esteban Cortazar and famously avant garde actor and singer Billy Porter. Host and designer Christian Siriano called the sustainable faux fur “groundbreaking” and “amazing”. This timely episode airs as the industry is buzzing with major brands and media outlets taking a stance against animal fur.

After selecting from luxurious faux options that mimicked leopard, cheetah, coyote, wool, and rabbit, designers created looks that went far beyond the traditional coat. Designers Chasity Sereal & Prajjé Oscar Jean-Baptiste stole the show combining a structured pink Sorona faux fur bodice and pillars with a bespoke street art style skirt.

“This episode of Bravo’s Project Runway is a call to action for the industry. Luxury and faux fur are not mutually exclusive,” says Sorona® Global Brand & Communications Leader Alexa Raab. “The world’s most influential thought leaders in fashion and media are advocating for innovative, sustainable fabrics. We’re proud to answer the call with options like the bio-based faux fur we offer in collaboration with Ecopel, called Koba®.” 

Arise IIP pan-African developer and operator of world-class industrial parks has partnered with FibreTrace to announce a new pilot program enabling spinner-to-garment traceability for ARISE IIP’s highly anticipated Republic of Benin spinning facilities at the Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone (GDIZ).

The partnership between FibreTrace and ARISE IIP will bring full traceability to the first of their kind, vertically integrated mills in the Republic of Benin to trace, verify and audit the lifecycle of their garments from spinning mills to stores, sharing the journey of Benin premium cotton with end consumers.

The partnership will position Benin at the forefront of textile innovation and technology, improving visibility, resilience, securing economic competitiveness, and creating a thriving value chain for African agriculture as the country is expected to have 98,000 tons lint cotton processing capacity per annum by the end of 2023.

Smallholder farmers are estimated to produce around 30% of total crop output globally, making them the foundation of global agriculture and the food sector.

“ARISE IIP will now be able to guarantee the sustainability of the premium cotton transformed on its industrial platforms across Africa thanks to the technology deployed by FibreTrace®. Across all its industrial parks, ARISE IIP ambitions to lead the way towards the sustainable transformation of local resources, where every stage of production is transparent for the benefit of local farmers and the end consumer,” said Gagan Gupta, Founder and CEO at ARISE IIP.

On Sunday, November 28th, Virgil Abloh passed away. At WeAr we’re passing our condolences and pay tribute to him as an individual as well as his great designer mastermind.

In July 2021, LVMH had acquired a majority stake in Off-White LLC, the trademark owner of Off-White™️, of which Virgil Abloh was the founder and Artistic Director since 2013. Additionally, LVMH and Mr. Abloh had announced the expansion of their relationship to launch new brands and partner with existing ones in a variety of sectors beyond the realm of fashion.

Born in Rockford, Illinois in 1980, Virgil Abloh was an artist, architect, engineer, creative director, and designer. After earning a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Wisconsin Madison, he completed a Master’s Degree in Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology in a curriculum founded by Mies van der Rohe.

Virgil Abloh’s brand Off-White c/o Virgil Abloh™️ was started in 2012 as an artwork titled “PYREX VISION.” In 2013, the brand premiered a seasonal men’s and women’s fashion label showing runway collections during Paris Fashion Week since 2015.

In 2015, Virgil Abloh for Off-White c/o Virgil Abloh™️ is among the finalists of the LVMH Prize.

Abloh has also presented his work at major design institutions around the globe by the likes of Harvard Graduate School of Design, Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation and the Rhode Island School of Design. In 2019 he had a major exhibition of past and current work at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago, Illinois.

Virgil Abloh has been awarded various prizes throughout his outstanding career, most recently winning the British Fashion Awards “Urban Luxe” award and International Designer of the Year at the GQ Men of the Year Awards in 2017.

Gucci’s chief executive officer Marco Bizzarri announced that Gucci will show its new collection with a runway show Milan in February 2022.

In addition, during the year, Bizzarri said that Gucci will also stage 2 additional runway shows, in late spring and in September 2022.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, Gucci has shifted to debuting its latest collection in digital format. Later, creative director Alessandro Michele decided to move away from the concept of seasonal collections such as “spring” and “pre-fall” and create a more momentary system.

The British Fashion Council has confirmed that Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele will be honoured with the Trailblazer Award at The Fashion Awards 2021, taking place on November 29 at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

The Trailblazer Award was introduced at The Fashion Awards in 2018 as one of the special recognition accolades, celebrating the very best innovators and creatives in fashion, whose work in the past year has been a game-changer and has significantly shaped the industry. Previous winners have included Kim Jones and Sarah Burton.

The Woolmark Company has revealed their seven finalists from the UK, the US, France, Australia, China, and South Africa for its 2022 International Woolmark Prize.

This year’s International Woolmark Prize’s theme, Play, will be a true celebration of forward-thinking design and innovation. Finalists are invited to experiment with textiles, design and business practices to drive change and innovation for a brighter future. With mentorship from industry experts such as Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, Stylist & Fashion Director, Garage Magazine; Holli Rogers, Chief Brand Officer, Farfetch; Sinéad Burke, Educator and Advocate; Sara Sozzani Maino, Head of Vogue Talents, Deputy Director Vogue Italia & Int Brand; Shaway Yeh, Founder YehYehYeh and Group Style Editorial Director Modern Media Group; and Tim Blanks, Editor-at-Large, Business of Fashion, as well as Innovation Academy partners, finalists will be guided through business and product development, supply chain connections and sustainability roadmaps.

The AZ Factory ‘Love Brings Love’ catwalk tribute to celebrate Alber Elbaz and his contribution to fashion held during Paris Fashion Week is being turned into an exhibition at the Palais Galliera fashion museum in Paris.

The tribute exhibition will run from March 5 to July 10 and will feature the 45 participating fashion houses and designers that created looks inspired by Elbaz, including Alexander McQueen, Balmain, Chloe, Dior, Christopher John Rogers, Gucci, Jean Paul Gaultier, Grace Wales Bonner, and Louis Vuitton.

During the catwalk, the show brought together Alber’s creative signature from AZ Factory and beyond: architectural details, couture-worthy proportions and seductively sporty silhouettes were all represented in looks from the world’s most renowned houses, eponymous labels and emerging talents, including AZ’s own design team.

Together with leading sports and outdoor brands, retailers, and industry associations, Messe München has made two groundbreaking decisions: Effective immediately, ISPO Munichwill be held permanently at the start of the winter season at the end of November, thus leaving the previous January date. OutDoor by ISPO is moving up permanently from the end of June to the end of May/beginning of June.

For 2022, this means that ISPO Munich 2022 will now take place from November 28 to 30, 2022 (Monday to Wednesday). The new date for OutDoor by ISPO 2022 is June 12 to 14, 2022 (Sunday to Tuesday).

The permanent shift in dates is a strategic decision due to the far-reaching market changes of recent years. Industry and retail are facing major shifts in the global supply chain, which also caused hanges to order cycles. Scheduling ISPO Munich in January or February, as was previously the case, is therefore too late for many industry participants. The permanently brought-forward date for OutDoor by ISPO also works much better with the new order cycles.

With the decision to move ISPO Munich, OutDoor by ISPO in June will be the first ISPO trade show in 2022. “We are thus strengthening the position of OutDoor by ISPO as the leading international trade show for the outdoor industry and a source of inspiration for everyone interested in the outdoors,” says Klaus Dittrich.

The Autumn Winter _’021 ‘022 Stone Island Shadow Project Collection pursues the ongoing mission of evolving the conception of contemporary menswear. In responding to the present and anticipating future world scenarios, the evolution of Shadow Project wants to serve the wearer.

The collection is divided in two chapters studied to support two seasons and they are engineered with functional and material research to serve through the transition from a hot to a cold climate.

Utilizing Stone Island’s unequaled expertise in textile research allows this project to once again fuse performance aspects, material innovation and colour into an expression of poetic innovation.

An enormous study on fits, shapes and detailing create intuitive solutions always serving the need for comfort.

Burberry has stated it will take action to “protect, restore and regenerate nature” as it builds on its climate positive commitment with a new biodiversity strategy unveiled at COP26.

The biodiversity strategy builds upon its recent commitment to become Climate Positive by 2040 and will expand the scope of its current initiatives by applying a nature-based approach in its own value chain and in areas of greatest need beyond its operations to help slow further global warming as part of the transition towards the 1.5°C pathway set out in the Paris Agreement.

Dr Gerry Murphy, chair of Burberry said “Climate change is not just a future environmental risk, it’s a socio-economic crisis that is impacting millions around the world today. Protecting, restoring and regenerating nature is key to safeguarding the planet for generations to come, and we must be ambitious in our intentions and action-oriented in our approach.

Stella McCartney has launched the ‘Future of Fashion: An innovation conversation with Stella McCartney’ exhibit at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow as part of the HRH Prince Charles Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI) at COP26.

The installation explores Stella McCartney’s nature-positive approach to fashion, as well as the brand’s use of next-generation materials, highlighting current achievements, as well as plans for the future.

The pieces can all be seen orbiting a sculptural and living fungi display, visually elaborating on the message shared with the brand’s spring/summer 2022 catwalk show.

Kering and Phaidon have partnered up to bring Woman Made: Great Women Designers. This comprehensive new book spotlights women of the past, present, and future, and their contributions to furniture, textile, product, and lighting design. Aimed to inspire and educate the next generation of designers, this partnership offers free content and resources on the newly developed online platform: www.thewomanmade.com. Programming will also include a panel series at academic design institutions in the United States, and a scholarship to support a female undergraduate student for the upcoming school year.

Kering’s commitment to women is at the heart of the Group’s priorities, and through Women In Motion extends to the field of art and culture, where gender inequalities are still flagrant even though creation is one of the most powerful vectors for change.

In 2015, Kering launched Women In Motion at the Festival de Cannes with the aim of shining a light on women in cinema, both in front of and behind the camera. Since then, the program has been expanded to include the fields of photography, art, literature, choreography, and design. Through its Awards, the program recognizes both inspirational figures and talented young women, while its Talks provide an opportunity for leading personalities to share their views on the representation of women in their profession.

For 4 weeks from Sunday 10th October Parajumpers has made its entrance into the Galeries Lafayette on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, with a bright orange pop-up hosting the new Fall-Winter 2021 collection.

Already present for fifteen years in many French luxury stores, the outwear brand of Italian origin Parajumpers has finally presented its pop-up in the Galeries Lafayette, the new Parisian shopping center.

A long bright orange tunnel, the iconic shade of PJS, will guide the visitor into the world of Parajumpers: a large space that combines the natural world with the most functional and fashionable pieces of the collection, such as the Color Block Tribes series, a woman’s proposal that plays with contrasting colors and oversized shapes.

Displayed with the characteristic yellow parachute hooks, the FW21 Parajumpers collection presents a palette of new and modern colors, which blend perfectly into the bubbly Paris. From the timeless Masterpiece and Warm Up, to exciting new proposals such as the Reloaded, Hollywood and Limited Edition series for women, the collection plays with fun combinations of colors and styles, without ever losing sight of research and innovation.

Stone Island Sound is a curatorial project that supports contemporary independent artistic production: a harmonious set of curated soundtracks, record releases, playlists in- store and live events. The aim of the project is to champion local independent music scenes and to forge a world sound map of avant garde and new pop.

On 13 October 2021, two years on from the last Milan C2C Festival and Stone Island event, STONE ISLAND PRESENTS LONDON landed at the Roundhouse, London.

Six London-based acts from different geographic areas and each with their own specific artistic expression took the stage including Jockstrap, Nala Sinephro, Obongjayar, Pa Salieu, Silvia Kastel, Two Shell.

A brand new issue of WeAr Magazine has arrived!

This issue is dedicated to the topic of sustainability and guides the readers through the latest trends, innovations, brands and tips to navigate this new era of fashion.

To flip through a free preview visit www.wearmagazine.com

Ralph Lauren has unveiled its next limited-edition collection in partnership with Major League Baseball (MLB), once again featuring items for Yankees and Dodgers, with additional pieces for the Red Sox included in the assortment.

Released in time for autumn, the capsule aims to merge sportswear with modern design, resulting in luxe everyday wear pieces. Wool baseball jackets with leather patches, fleece hoodies and joggers, as well as canvas and leather totes, are all part of the new collection, with black-on-black colourways for each team.

Yesterday, MICAM, the International Footwear Exhibition, MIPEL, the event dedicated to leather goods and accessories, and THE ONE MILANO SPECIAL FEATURED BY MICAM, the Haut-à-Porter Exhibition, came to a close after three days, with all 3 events attracting a large number of visitors and dealers. Over the three-day period, a total of 22,274 trade visitors were able to peruse the products offered by the 735 companies exhibiting at the three events.

The synergy triggered last year under the project Stronger Together that brought all the fashion-accessory fairs together for the very first time, paid dividends by helping companies to keep focussed. This year, too, trade visitors demonstrated their enthusiastic support for the format by flocking to all three events. Among the stands there was an evident desire to experiment, with many companies focussing on new designs, new materials, and new shapes and colours, proving just how important the occasion is in presenting the market with innovative content and products.

Siro Badon Chair of Assocalzaturifici and MICAM Milano, was satisfied with the result:

“This edition marks our ‘renaissance’. The real protagonists were the exhibitors who once again believed in the event. Seeing in their eyes the light and the enthusiasm of those who are finally beginning to put a difficult situation behind them is priceless. MICAM reaffirms its strategic role for the entire sector as a hub for relaunching businesses, strengthening their presence and competitiveness in international markets. A positive trend also confirmed by the numbers which, after the crisis in 2020, see both industrial production (+ 13%) and turnover (+ 22%) increasing in the first half of the year, as well as spending by Italian families (+ 17.4%) and exports (+ 31.5% in value)”.

“The synergy we created a year ago has proved to be a first-rate instrument, capable, once again this year, of meeting the needs of those operating in the industry – comments Franco Gabbrielli, President of MIPEL. – “We are satisfied and proud. The results of this Mipel120 edition are even higher than expectations. The same spirit animates the first edition of Mipel LAB, which has started together with Lineapelle, and that will be an inspiration for the many activities that await us in the coming months”.

Tranoï Event September 2021 will take place from September 30th until October 3rd, 2021 at Palais de Tokyo. The 220 brands and designers on the Tranoï Link platform will also present their S/S 22 collections online. Buyers can explore the collections, get information on the designers participating in the trade show and organise their visit ahead of time and stay in touch with them after the show.

Tranoï x Wholesale Is Not Dead (W.I.N.D.) will present a series of live podcasts with buyers and retailers at the trade show (program details to be announced).

Each day, W.I.N.D. will focus on how the fashion business is evolving. French and international buyers will be invited to share their experiences and their outlook on fashion and the sector’s new challenges.

In the same week the French luxury label announced Japanese fashion designer Nigo as its new artistic director, it has also appointed Sylvain Blanc as its new CEO.

Blanc joins the fashion house from underwear label Undiz, where he’s been chief executive since 2018. Earlier in his career, he was vice president, Europe, of French label The Kooples, and is the founder and former CEO of high-end patisserie and chocolaterie Hugo & Victor.

Prada’s Spring Summer 2022 collection, designed in tandem by co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, will take place live on 24 September at 3pm local time in Milan and 9pm in Shanghai, simultaneously.

In both locations, it will be possible for the shows’ guest audience to follow live on giant screens the show taking place in the other city, while the two events will be simultaneously streamed on prada.com as a live montage, providing a third way of enjoying the shows.

Richard J. Brown’s F/W 21-22 collection explores everything from urban origins to the borders of unexplored territories. From metropolitan contexts to rural and original dimensions. An elegant taste and refined comfort. A sense of personality and harmony of well-being. Contemporary denim interprets the essence of today and anticipates the innovation of tomorrow. It underlines the thread of tradition, reciting new narratives, post-modern trends, evolved costumes. It speaks of a strong character that is surprising and encloses expectations, emotions, hopes, perspectives. It becomes versatile and modular, a skilled expert in everyday life and on every exceptional occasion.

Denim winter soul, the even grittier fabrics, able to express, through their weft and warp weave, their temperament with even more power, without ever giving up the excellent performance. Elegance and quality continue to be the cornerstones of the collection. Traditional blue and black denim, available in different washes, flannel, moleskin and corduroy are combined with more unusual fabrics, enriched by more important flame coupling, for more sporty and dynamic versions, enhancing the idea of authentic denim.

Made with precious fabrics and lined with flannel, the RJB total look project moves forward with the new Steve, a new version of the denim jacket with classic shapes and creative details, finishes and choice of materials that look to the world of luxury. Cuts and creases, patch and slanted pockets, new lacquered horn buttons as well as the traditional jointed ones. An ideal Mix&Match for interchangeable weights and colours.

The chromatic panorama is reminiscent of different and complementary worlds, as if outlined by the decisive and rhythmic movement of a light swing. Mélange effects and contrasts recall boundless Nordic scenarios, amid water reflections, tundra and Canadian prairies, conifers, and millenary rocks.

Dark brown, bark, burgundy maple, and turtledove shine out. The luxury display moves to the English countryside and develops shades of beige, camel, forest green, sage and moss. The urban stage moves between royal blue, cream, cobalt, pearl grey and smoke, between energy and dynamism, flow and productive circulation.

The patched proclaim their identity role resulting from a constant pursuit for innovation and perfection. Novelties are the ostrich effect printed leather versions with metal finishes set in copper or silver plated, as well as the reinterpretation of the flannel patches with a heat- applied silver-plated logo.

In collaboration with Web3 digital fashion marketplace The Dematerialised, luxury fashion house Karl Lagerfeld will be releasing a non-fungible token (NFT) in the form of digital figurines inspired by the late designer.

The newly launched NFT coincides with what would have been Lagerfeld’s birthday and marks the houses first exploration of blockchain technology. The two figurines pay homage to the designer, with the cartoon avatar holding a distinct likeness to Karl’s iconic look.

“This is a remarkable first step into the future as we pave our way into the virtual world of NFTs and digital fashion,” said Karl Lagerfeld’s CEO and president, Pier Paolo Righi, in a statement. “We’re excited to add this innovative category to our portfolio and be able to inspire existing customers and new customers with this one-of-a-kind collectable.”

The final of the 8th edition of the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers took place on 7th September 2021 at the Louis Vuitton Foundation, in the presence of six artistic directors from the LVMH Group, Virgil Abloh, Jonathan Anderson, Maria Grazia Chiuri, Marc Jacobs, Kim Jones and Stella McCartney, alongside Delphine Arnault, Jean-Paul Claverie and Sidney Toledano.

Among the nine finalists, the Jury awarded the LVMH Prize to Nensi Dojaka, 27, an Albanian womenswear designer based in London. She will receive a 300,000-euro endowment and will be mentored for one year by a team of LVMH experts.

After closing his namesake label in 2019 and selling his contemporary label to private label firm Public Clothing Company (PCC) at the start of 2020, Derek Lam is set to present his first full collection as chief creative officer of Derek Lam 10 Crosby next month.

10 Crosby will focus on a D2C model and will invest in its digital presence. According to Business of Fashion, Lam also said 10 Crosby will use PCC’s resources, particularly in its supply chain, to launch new product lines and expand internationally.

Kering Eyewear and the Lindberg family have signed an agreement for Kering Eyewear to acquire 100% of the share capital of LINDBERG.

This acquisition is an important milestone in the successful expansion of Kering Eyewear and perfectly fits with its development strategy. Since its start in 2014, Kering Eyewear has built an innovative business model that enabled the company to reach a critical size in the market with close to €600 million wholesale external revenues pre-Covid (FY2019). This acquisition will further reinforce Kering Eyewear as the most relevant player in the luxury eyewear market segment, adding to its portfolio a complementary and proprietary brand with strong legitimacy, undisputed know-how and best-in-class customer service in optical frames.
Thanks to their business complementarities, both companies will be able to leverage on their respective strengths across the value chain, with synergies in distribution and geographical reach notably. This will contribute to accelerate the growth and enhance the profitability of Kering Eyewear.

Ralph Lauren has announced its partnership with social networking and avatar simulation app Zepeto.

The app allows users to function in a fully articulated virtual world where they can socialise with others using a customisable 3D avatar. Users will be able to purchase a completely digital Ralph Lauren clothing collection, reminiscent of its physical apparel, giving users the opportunity to dress their 3D avatars in exclusive products.

The Ralph Lauren x Zepeto collection will feature 12 looks in total, with over 50 unique items on offer, including a mix of vintage Polo Ralph Lauren designs and pieces from its current summer collection. Shoppers will be able to get their virtual hands on limited edition skateboards and other special pieces exclusively designed for the collection.

AlphaTauri has launched its new online presence with their website, AlphaTauri.com.

Right in time with the new Autumn/Winter 21 collection, the site was built with a multi format customer experience in mind. 

The new design language highlights the relevance of looks as a reflection of the brands product strategy to increase the combination variety within the collection for more head-to-toe looks.

„The new website is more than an aesthetic statement- it is an expression of our brand promise. We are talking about new ways to purchase fashion as it complements the shopping journey in our stores on- and offline. Our hybrid collections have finally gone live cross-channel“ explains Ahmet Mercan, CEO – AlphaTauri 

The newly created website is also a portal into AlphaTauri`s brand world: whether its a behind-the- scenes view into the daily business or moving content around collaborations and latest innovations.

CHIC – China International Fashion Fair August 2021, originally planned from August 25-27, will be postponed due to the current coronavirus situation in China in accordance with the prevailing safety regulations. Asia’s leading trade fair for fashion and lifestyle will now take place with a new date from October 9-11, 2021 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai.

Around 500 brands will present the entire spectrum of the Chinese fashion industry in October. In addition to the physical exhibition on site, CHIC offers innovative hybrid and digital options for optimal exhibition results.

The Chinese market continues to develop positively. Retail sales are increasing, the growing middle class is driving the trend of “premiumization”, especially high-quality niche brands are in demand in the market of the future.

The next editions of CHIC will take place from November 3-5, 2021 in Shenzhen and from March 9-11, 2022 in Shanghai

From A for “avatar” to Z for “zero impact” – during Neonyt’s Fashionsustain conference from 6 to 8 July 2021, the status quo of the textiles and fashion sector was examined, innovation drivers identified and scope for action for the retail sector defined. The multidisciplinary conference streamed more than 20 hours of inspiration and insights, panel discussions and fashion deep-dives live from the FFW Studio. Participants included Grüner Knopf, Oeko-Tex, PwC and the Transformers Foundation.

The digital transformation is accelerating across the entire textile and fashion industry at an unprecedented pace. This is requiring everyone involved to adopt a more agile mindset in order to be able to adapt in disruptive environments. Holistic thinking is required – with regard to production standards, but also when it comes to the inclusion of the most diverse target groups. Fashion is a form of expression and identity. It is about political statements and a reflection of social issues.

“Even though we have certainly been noticing a sense of digital fatigue after three seasons online, there was no sign of it whatsoever during Fashionsustain,” said Thimo Schwenzfeier, Show Director of Neonyt. “Digitalisation is shaping a sustainable future and therefore also the international fashion scene; it is opening up brand-new synergies for the textile and fashion industry and extending the scope – as proven by the experts at Fashionsustain.”