The 18th SHIRT AVENUE, one of the five exhibitions at Milano Unica – the Italian Textile Show – will host 45 leading producers of classic and casual shirting fabrics who are real experts in product innovation and culture


The 18th Shirt Avenue, showcasing collections of shirting fabrics for Spring/Summer 09, opens on Tuesday, 12 February and closes on Friday, 15 February at the Portello pavilions of Fieramilanocity, as part of Milano Unica. Together with the four other exhibitions (Ideacomo, Ideabiella, Moda In, Prato Expo) that planned and organized Italy’s first all-encompassing exhibition of quality textiles, Shirt Avenue is satisfied with the results of the 5th Milano Unica held in September 2007. A total of 33,800 people visited the show, confirming the results of the previous year, and there were 18,000 exhibiting companies, one third from overseas. Also noteworthy was the overall satisfaction of the buyers with the five exhibitions because of the quality of the collections and how the event had been organized.


“The European shirting industry has posted a slowdown in orders since September 2007 and this trend is expected to continue throughout most of 2008 – stated Aldo Ardemagni, who is the vice president of Shirt Avenue and Milano Unica – due to at least three important socio-economic factors. First, the widespread use of fine or imported knitwear among young people under 30, then the elimination of import restrictions on finished products from China and India on 31 December 2007, and finally the economic aspect consumption levels falling especially in North America and Europe. Ours is clearly not a cry of alarm but simply an observation that the high-end bracket needs to be expanded by trying to communicate the plus values of Made in Europe in a clearer and better way through an information campaign among our clients”.

Shirting trends for Spring/Summer 2009
The Spring/Summer 09 shirting collections are all about fresh and natural fabrics. Flat and structured surfaces create skillful light effects and transparencies by alternating more or less dense backgrounds. Pleasant and refined little diamonds and fil coupé micro-weaves have been used to embellish bases. Hands are smooth, slippery and chintzy, but also worn and washed to become dry, crackly, irregular and textured like the fabrics obtained with very twisted yarns. The color palette features an out-of-the-ordinary range of shades that are never too loud and often with hints of natural hues in a bouquet that spans from Madonna or fleur-de-lis pale blues to lilacs, pinks and fuchsias. A prevailing feature are the medium-small stripes and checks even on jacquards, simple designs where proportions and color make all the difference. Also fundamental are the small geometric or floral motifs for both plain and patterned fabrics. Fine and ultra-fine yarns have been used to obtain very light, almost airy weights, but never draping. The focus for the new season is on more or less compact gauzes, voiles, and zephirs.

As always, the area dedicated to Shirt Avenue hosts leading-edge producers of Made In Europe shirting fabrics with four important new entries (Freudenberg, Jitex, Siat&Lang and Sidogras) and two returns (Gritti and Michele Solbiati Sasil) for a total of 45 exhibitors, 14 from other countries, representing the very best in the international shirting industry. Buyers will find two additional areas at the two ends of Shirt Avenue where they can also view the collections.