Hey, it’s fashion week! Some of you are probably thinking ‘Oh god, another week of brilliantine, armies of models, maps in hand and crazy people strutting down the streets convinced they are THE new fashion icon’.
Well, I can’t say that this won’t happen, but I can assure you, fashion is a lot more.
Fashion is one of the most productive sectors in Italy, sales volume grew 1.4% in 2013 compared to the 1.9% decrease of the overall Italian market, and total revenue of the fashion firms sum up to 55.2€ billion. The top ten firms in the fashion sector registered an increase in revenues by 4.4%, proving a capitalization that other sectors in Italy couldn’t even imagine (on average, 40% of the equity against the 143% of other sectors).
Besides all the numbers, fashion is an increasing industry and an amazing opportunity; we have conquered the characteristic of “Made in Italy”. International students (and buyers) come to visit us just to breathe the trendy air (and buy a lots of luxury bags), and we definitely need that.
Bill De Blasio, the mayor of New York, during fashion week announced that the city will be tripling the amount of money it allots to the fashion industry, going from $5 million to $15 million. The money will go to the “Made in New York” initiative for local manufacturers, emerging designers and design students. After all, the industry does employ almost 200.000 New Yorkers and generates 2 billions of dollars in annual tax revenues.
Then it was London fashion week time! And, once again, the major Boris Johnson hosted an event with the British Fashion Council to champion British fashion in America. The city recognized the importance of the industry and said, “Fashion is an industry that probably employs about 900,000 people in my country, and generates direct and indirect GDP of 49 billion pounds. It’s of huge importance.”
What about Italy? Fashion week is almost over, but we’ll keep you informed!
Lia Zaccariotto
