How Pitti Uomo 108 put Asia at the heart of menswear

Pitti Uomo’s 108th edition, held June 17 to 20 in Florence, leaned into Asia, with dedicated showcases highlighting talent from Japan, South Korea, and China. The move reflects both strategic foresight and necessity: Asia’s young, fashion-savvy consumers and globally trained designers are writing menswear’s next chapter. “We’ve seen a growing interest from Asian buyers in Pitti Uomo for many years,” says Antonio Cristaudo, commercial director of Pitti Immagine, the organization that manages Pitti Uomo fair. “Pitti is the only event where you can find classic tailoring, sportswear, and contemporary styles all in one place. Our platform reflects how men dress today, for multiple occasions, not just one lifestyle.” This year, Pitti Uomo strengthened its ties with the Japan Fashion Week Organization and Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), setting the stage for enhanced collaboration. Notably, Japanese designer Hideaki Shikama of Children of the Discordance debuted a vibrant, storytelling driven collection, while Homme Plissé Issey Miyake headlined with a dual-format experience at the historic Villa Medicea della Petraia. Korean label PAF (Post Archive Fashion) showcased as guest designer, underscoring the fair’s growing involvement in Korea’s design scene. ”Asian markets like Japan, South Korea, and China are key to our international strategy,” Cristaudo says. “Young creatives from these regions have studied abroad and they merge Western sensibilities with their own craftsmanship. We don’t look at nationality; we look at the quality of the product.” The South Korean wave builds: Eenk and PAF take Florence Few sectors have seen as explosive a rise on the international scene as South Korean fashion. At Pitti Uomo 108, the country’s influence was unmistakable thanks to PAF’s highly anticipated show, and contemporary Seoul-based label Eenk’s standout show, where K-pop star Choi Youngjae from popular boy band Got7 sat in the audience. Founded by Hyemee Lee in 2015, Eenk brought its redefined yet disruptive aesthetic to Florence with a special presentation in partnership with luxury retailer Luisaviaroma. The collaboration, staged as an immersive brand showcase, introduced the label’s latest collection to an elite international audience, highlighting its ambition to scale globally while staying grounded in a uniquely Korean perspective. “Eenk is a brand that consistently questions the familiar and expands upon the words and meanings embedded in each of its collections. In that sense, Pitti Uomo — where tradition meets innovation and practicality coexists with experimentation — offers the ideal environment to express our narrative in a more multidimensional way,” Eenk’s founder Hyemee Lee tells Jing Daily. When asked why the brand partnered with Luisaviaroma, Lee said the luxury retailer is more than a retail platform: “It is a cultural hub where discerning global customers connect with visionary brands.” The Fall 2025 collection, titled “B for Binding” was inspired by artist Kimsooja’s exhibition “To Breathe-constellation” at the Bourse de Commerce-Pinault collection in Paris, which is constructed from thread. The result is a series of dresses with silhouettes resembling a bookcase. Layers of fabric ripple in the breeze and outerwear combines a shirt and jacket. Eenk’s rise mirrors a broader shift in how Korean fashion brands are creating cultural capital to appeal to international markets. This evolution is no accident: South Korea’s cultural exports, from K-pop to K-dramas to K-beauty, have laid the groundwork for a fashion boom that’s only accelerating. As for PAF, news of the experimental menswear label founded by Dongjoon Lim and Sookyo Jeong in 2018 being named Pitti Uomo’s Guest Designer for 2025 was announced with great fanfare. Known for its futurist deconstructions and kinetic silhouettes, PAF presented its Spring 26 collection on a dune-inspired runway, featuring a cast embodying “drifters on an endless voyage.” Evolving the brand's signature sportswear and technical fabric language, the collection dynamically blends archival references, asymmetrical cuts, and experimental tailoring. The show highlighted the growing status of South Korea’s fashion market. Japanese brands dominate Pitti’s runway: Homme Plissé Issey Miyake and Children of the Discordance While South Korea may be the current zeitgeist, Japan’s influence remains as profound as ever. This year’s edition of Pitti Uomo was testament to the enduring power of Japanese fashion, anchored by the presence of two standout brands: Homme Plissé Issey Miyake and Children of the Discordance. The former, a line of the legendary Japanese maison, presented its Spring/Summer 2026 menswear collection at the historic Villa Medicea della Petraia, just outside Florence. Titled “Amid Impasto of Horizons,” the show merged fashion with fine art, turning garments into wearable brushstrokes inspired by Italy’s natural landscapes. Loose silhouettes, tactile plissé fabrics, and color-splashed details channeled both Japanese minimalism and Renaissance artistry. But this wasn’t just a fashion show. It was the launch of Open Studio, a new global project by Homme Plissé Issey Miyake that connects communities through immersive design experiences. The exhibit component offered deep dives into the brand’s pleating techniques and textile innovation, underscoring its unique position at the intersection of technology and tradition. Tokyo-headquartered Children of the Discordance returned to Pitti with a collection that was both personal and globally resonant. Designer Hideaki Shikama revisited his youth in Yokohama and wove in impressions from recent travels to Vietnam. The result: a dissonant yet poetic medley of dusky pastels, layered textures, and asymmetrical tailoring that evoke a narrative of lived experience and cultural juxtaposition. The brand’s collaboration with a London-trained pattern maker introduced a more structured sensibility to the label’s trademark rawness, with meticulously tailored shirts and sculptural outerwear offset by deliberate imperfections like unfinished hems, hand-bleached surfaces, and experimental patchwork using over 20 luxury fabrics. China steps forward: Consinee reimagines the playground of wool While South Korea and Japan took the fashion show spotlight, China’s contribution to Pitti Uomo 108 came via textile innovation. The Chinese yarn manufacturer Consinee Group transformed its stand into a conceptual playground celebrating wool as a medium for tactile exploration, performance, and style. The installation “The Body Is a Playground” curated by fashion journalist Angelo Flaccavento in collaboration with Luca D’Alena opened with a live performance by the theatre and dance company Kinkaleri. Each piece is composed of modular knit pieces that can be worn separately or together offering a flexible, buildable silhouette. A standout piece is a knitted dress designed to be worn with or without a coordinating scarf; when the scarf is removed, a sheer panel running from the neck down the length of the dress is revealed. As Angelo Flaccavento tells Jing Daily, “The idea is to free consumers from prescribed styling. One should feel free to wear a garment however they choose.” For Consinee, which already supplies to top luxury houses, the move is strategic and symbolic. By presenting at Pitti Uomo, long considered the vanguard of men’s fashion, it signals China’s ambitions not just as a manufacturing powerhouse, but as a tastemaker in the global fashion ecosystem. Cristaudo points to the increasing importance of young Chinese creatives to Pitti’s future. “China and Korea are full of youthful, talented designers. They bring a more courageous vision compared to many Western brands,” he says. “It’s not just about participating; we curate who gets to be on our platform. The China Wave section, like Code Korea, is proof of that.” Luxury’s next goldmine opportunity: Southeast Asia At Pitti Uomo 108, a growing number of luxury brands signaled a pivot towards South Asia, drawn by the region’s rising affluence, youthful consumer base, and appetite for artisanal craftsmanship. Stefano Ricci, for instance, spotlighted India through its latest SR Explorer chapter, photographed by Steve McCurry in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh — a tribute to the area’s regal heritage that echoes the brand’s own Florentine roots. This symbolic gesture aligns with Ricci’s broader expansion strategy, which includes a new boutique in Ho Chi Minh City and upcoming openings in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and potentially Japan. Others too, such as Gucci and Louis Vuitton, are eyeing Southeast Asia’s potential as a growth engine amid a slowdown in China, recalibrating both their retail footprints and cultural narratives to better engage high-net-worth clients in markets like India, Vietnam and Indonesia. As luxury spending rises in Asia, so fashion’s center of gravity shifts. Pitti Uomo 108 confirmed that the future of menswear isn’t confined to Milan, Paris, or New York — it’s a global conversation, and Asia is at the fore of the dialogue.

How Pitti Uomo 108 put Asia at the heart of menswear

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Published June 20, 2025

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How Pitti Uomo 108 put Asia at the heart of menswear