Pitti Immagine launches online platform Pitti Connect

Pitti Immagine, the organiser of Italian trade shows such as Uomo, Bimbo and Filati, has announced a new digital platform called Pitti Connect, to be launched in June.

The platform aims to keep the fashion industry connected during the ongoing disruption caused by the Covid19 pandemic, increasing companies’ visibility and to facilitate networking ahead of the upcoming fairs.

It will allow people to carry out scouting activities, contact exhibitors, plan meetings and view collections through video chats or virtual showrooms, the organiser said.

Pitti Connect builds on E-Pitti, a digital platform for the tradeshow launched in 2011.

In April, it was announced that leading menswear trade show Pitti Uomo would be delayed until September in light of the ongoing Covid-19 situation and would span three days as opposed to the usual four, between 2 to 4 September.

“We know all about the priorities and the challenges that fashion companies and brands are facing at this time, because we at Pitti Immagine are experiencing the same ones,” said Pitti Immagine CEO Raffaello Napoleone in a statement.

“For over a decade we have believed and invested in web evolution – with the launch of the first collaborations with the MIT in Boston and the inauguration of the e-Pitti platform, right up to the institution of the e-P Summit – and in the light of the profound digital transformation in progress that imposes innovative strategies for being competitive and looking to the future, we want to offer the very best existing technology with a totally new platform and an editorial layout that is rich in content, just like a regular magazine.”

Pitti Immagine currently boasts a network of 90,000 registered and certified Pitti Uomo users, 33,000 of Pitti Bimbo users and 25,000 Pitti Filati users. The community generated 182,000 exhibitor searches on the website with over 1,300,000 web pages visited during the last edition of Pitti Uomo in January.

Agostino Poletto, general manager of Pitti Immagine, said: “Pitti Connect will make it possible for exhibitors not only to better communicate all the facets of their brand identity but will also have advanced functions for managing access to the marketplace and the order phase.”

“In fact, we have decided to create a customized marketplace product in collaboration with specialist companies in order to maintain a direct relationship with the exhibitors and companies as well as to ensure high qualitative standards and to control the entire process.”

Photo credit: Pitti Immagine