Key market and buying trends from Pitti Uomo, Milano Unica, VIATT and Paris Fashion Week (UKFT reports)
01/04/2026
As part of its 2026 Discover British Brands and Textiles campaign, UKFT attended attended key fashion and textile events across the world from January 2026 through to March 2026. Explore below the 2026 market and buying trends reported by our International Business team. UKFT’s promotion campaigns were supported by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT).
UKFT’s 2026 Discover British Brands and Textiles campaign showcases UK brands, designers, textile mills and manufacturers exhibiting at major international events. Its aim is to support buyer discovery, strengthen the visibility of British exhibitors and reinforce the UK’s reputation as an export-ready fashion and textile nation. It covered five key events:
- Pitti Immagine Uomo, Florence (13–16 January)
- Paris Men’s Fashion Week & Pre-Collections, Paris (17–28 January)
- Milano Unica, Milan (20–22 January)
- VIATT – Vietnam International Trade Fair for Apparel, Textiles and Textile Technologies, Ho Chi Minh City (26–28 February)
- Paris Women’s Fashion Week, Paris (3–11 March)
ABOUT THE WINTER 2026 CAMPAIGN
Explore 2026 textile and fashion market trends
Pitti Uomo, Italy
The 109th edition of Pitti Uomo proved a highly positive and encouraging platform for UK menswear exhibitors, with brands reporting strong engagement from both existing and new international customers. Exhibitors emphasised Pitti Uomo’s ongoing importance as a networking and commercial platform, connecting UK brands with global markets and reaffirming the appetite for heritage skills, responsible production and enduring design.
Paris Men’s & Pre-Collections, France
Starting only a day after Pitti Uomo, Paris marked a decisive and commercially focused start to the AW26/27 wholesale season, with strong buyer attendance across men’s, women’s pre-collections, childrenswear and specialist trade shows. Building on early momentum from Pitti Uomo, UKFT supported and promoted more than 100 UK brands showing across Paris through its Discover British Brands mapping and outreach campaign, helping international buyers navigate a highly distributed showroom and tradeshow landscape.
READ FULL PARIS MEN’S AND PRE-COLLECTIONS REPORT
Milano Unica, Italy
Milano Unica continues to be a cornerstone event in UKFT’s international tradeshow programme, offering UK textile manufacturers direct access to quality international buyers and reinforcing the global reputation of British textiles for quality, heritage and innovation. From the point of view of Italian and UK textile mills, part of Milano Unica’s strength is based on its primary focus on Made in Europe textiles with competing textiles from cheaper manufacturing bases mainly excluded from the show.
VIATT, Vietnam
The third edition of VIATT confirmed the event’s steady evolution into a credible and increasingly international regional platform for textiles and apparel. Although visitor numbers were somewhat constrained this year due to a timing clash with Lunar New Year, the overall tone of the exhibition was positive, with exhibitors reporting constructive engagement and meaningful commercial conversations. The show continues to develop in scope and ambition, with clear signs that its importance within Southeast Asia’s textile calendar is growing. This was the second year that UKFT has participated in VIATT.
Paris Women’s Fashion Week, France
Paris Women’s Fashion Week (PFW) for the Autumn/Winter 2026–27 season took place from 3–11 March 2026, closing the international womenswear market calendar following New York, London and Milan. The event remains the most globally attended fashion market week, bringing together buyers, press and key decision-makers from across Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia. Whilst most fashion weeks are about brand promotion and less about writing wholesale business, Paris remains the exception. For most women’s designer brands, Paris is the place where they meet their wholesale buyers to discuss and confirm orders for the “main” womenswear season even if they have seen them in Milan, New York or London.
Are you a UK fashion and textile brand preparing your trip to an international tradeshow? Get in touch at info@ukft.org to be included in the campaign next season.
*Please note that this is dependent on the shows we will be covering. More details will be announced later this year.