“Pitti Uomo is an excellent device for detecting climate change in the world of fashion”, says Raffaello Napoleone, CEO of Pitti Immagine – “and it is also the event that opens the calendar of fashion trade fairs. We all know how important it is right now to get off on the right foot when presenting products on an international level. And that is precisely why we are here. Pitti Uomo offers companies this opportunity: thanks to its timing, the completeness of its offer and its setting, it is the place where the top buyers come to find established as well as new, experimental brands, and it is also the environment selected by the finest firms to present their products in terms of business and image. The January 2009 edition will be filled with previews and special projects such as the presentation of the Thom Browne Menswear Collection, the launch of the sartorial line by Comme des Garçons and the debut of Allegri’s new main line – along with the culture of fashion such as the big exhibit on Workwear curated by Oliviero Toscani and Olivier Saillard. Furthermore, the “Pitti Uomo Days” will coincide with the Pitti_W Woman Precollection showings, a project that is growing and evolving and this edition will be hosting what I consider to be an extraordinary event, Giambattista Valli’s Italian premiere in Palazzo Vecchio”.