After visitors were greeted by pouring rain in Florence Pitti Filati spirits quickly lifted on the first day at the end of January. As the first yarn fair of 2025, Pitti Filati reported international market numbers significantly up by the end.

Agostino Poletto, General Director of Pitti Immagine called it a global platform for exchanges and communication. The show was watched carefully as an opener to 2026 and the market was uncertain. The offer was confident and experimental, companies eager to show the parameters of quality, creativity and sustainability.

Focus on the growing popularity of knit follows the shift to sustainable materials and natural fibres provoking the much quoted ‘concept of advanced production chain synergy’.

Bright colours and decorative designs were on show in a confident bid for Spring Summer 2026 with new yarns offered up to buyers from Italy and abroad, emphasising quality and technical developments for the new season which was well received.    

Technology meets luxury Most spinners and customers are chasing new technology in establishing the market for higher quality. Shima Seiki Italia showed new ‘fully fledged’ technology for seamless shirts, the knitting industry investing and possibly changing future fashion in a global way.

Body of Light the new theme at Spazio Ricerca the Research area, visited by hundreds of buyers designers and spinners. Angelo Figus and Nicola Miller and team showed new and original interpretations for classic knitting and beyond to bright colours to create light.

Re-interpreting summer fabrics saw checks, Argyles, cable and classical knitwear lightweight but complex in construction, colours and raw material, summer cotton, linen and hemp were mixed with hairy wools of alpaca and mohair as well as soft Merino. Luxe fibres like cashmere from customised technology with environmental guarantees at Cariaggi, Consinee and Servizie Seta, blended with 100 per cent wool or linen.

Recycled or repurposed content formed part of the vogue for embroidery with artificial fibres and shine. Wool and cotton blend swatches had open structures, complex fancy stitches and different gauges and weights. They featured carded and worsted wools, ribbons, flat and malfile yarns for crochet and handmade looks. 

Glamour and glitz Conspicuous luxury hit even the most refined labels ; Eco certified dyes, transparent knits with little hints of colour and sophisticated iridescence from coloured yarns, raised designs and very big motifs knitted into dress and shirt designs. It is fashion responding to current glamorous images on film, social media and icons like Taylor Swift, seen worldwide, which cannot be ignored.

Light in the Research Area came from surface interests - brushstroke surfaces, chiaroscuro effects and elegant sparkling yarns lending luminescence or half-hidden light metalled graded colours. Bright knits, light wool yarn  in summer colours, linen, cashmere and cotton mixes. Bright sparks made colourful debut at Beatrice Brandini similarly at MilleFili.

Light wool and linen are a sure tip for the season; Silk also runs throughout the collections.  At Botto Poala they are pure or blended with cotton and polyamide giving a slightly metallic effect. Hasegawa silk yarn made in Japan remains popular with luxury brands and high-end weavers.

Ingenuity Linea Piu with Mohair South Africa yarns for brushed fabrics, pinks and reds, with decoration bobbles, handmade looks and complex patterns red, black or purple

Linen used in many collections overall, in lightweight and floaty guise and blended with Tencent displaying different qualities.

Mid-season grows in importance. Yarns from Ilaria and Papi Fabio offer quality inter-season carded yarn for mid-season knitwear. Fine count yarns for lighter knits, traceable and certified yarn diversity; in mohair from Industria Italiana with sequins on plain grey knit, fine count yarns with a thicker appearance sometimes brushed for thickness adopted for lighter knits.

Pitti Filat’s K Club dedicated knitwear section with a selection of high-level companies with customers from couture to popular labels. Gli Angeli Tricot, M3 knitwear, working with fashion brands and high quality sustainable raw materials. MRC knitwear developing technical knowhow with cutting edge Shima Seiki machinery design development and research.

Social media and AI is used as means of analysing the needs and potential of a highly tuned clientele. Lanificio dell’ olivo quoted Gen Z as a talking point about the views of a specific generation from 1990s early 2000 exerting influence globally.  Cotton is the season’s standout material there with various tones of pearly and gleaming blue as the chosen colour glowing and shimmering.

The company has set up a fascinating partnership with Biotech Spiber Inc creating   blends of cashmere and Brewed Protein in various proportions.

Suedwolle innovations blended Biella Yarns with Tencel Lyocell developed for garments for relaxation. Dhouse laboratorio urbano - also ultra innovative work Ultrasound Knitting, promising ‘no more traditional linking’  bringing together Mandarin knitting technology and Suedwolle group.

Botto Giuseppe pioneered blending aesthetic values and Manufacturing knowhow. Silvio Botto CEO seeks to combine tradition and innovation with luxury as a central theme combined with embracing Gots for silk, RWS wool, GCS and Sustainable Fibre alliance for cashmere.

The Body of light concept included unusual tones within bright colours, interspersed with black, majoring on red, orange, yellow, which lit up the whole ambience of the experience. Patterns and decorations include geometric designs in different coloured squares which allow different surface textures next to each other, demonstrating current technical innovations.

Pitti Immagine is dedicated to support for young designers across the board of making and designing, holding relevant sessions at show time. From January to June 2025, participants will engage in design workshops and mentoring sessions with pioneering industrial groups specializing in advanced fashion processes. An award ceremony and official presentation to winners will take place in October 2025 during the fashion period.

The show finished on a note of confidence with 116 exhibitors, spinners and knitwear companies for 2026. Pitti Filati visitors overall reached more than 2850, an unexpected uptick, with several buyers declaring the show is unmissable. Emerging markets continue as a strong interest, and as at Pitti Uomo, markets become global, purchasing as well as producing.

Pitti Filati website