The Italian Trade Agency (ITA) will extend its sponsorship of a curated selection of some of Italy’s very best womenswear and women’s accessories designers at the semi-annual Chicago trade show, February 21-23 at The Jacob K. Javits Center in NYC. This season ITA will sponsor 70+ Italian brands at Coterie, positioned together on the show floor in our dedicated Italian Pavilion.

ITA is dedicated to supporting our brands to ensure they are set up for success during the precious time they have with US retailers. Simultaneously the government organization will unveil a special installation and happenings in its centrally located lounge within the Italian Pavilion, designed to convey the Italian lifestyle that everyone aspires to.

Within its Italian Pavilion lounge, ITA will host a complimentary espresso bar each morning, as well as a traditional afternoon aperitivo with Italian-curated cocktails and bites on Tuesday and Wednesday. ITA has commissioned the industry-favorite fashion-floral illustrator, Meredith Wing (@moomooi), to create stunning artwork for the lounge and in public areas around the show floor. Lastly, ITA will showcase an Instagram-worthy “floral flash” in the form of a cherry red Italian Fiat bursting with fresh flowers, designed to evoke the unmistakable Italian wanderlust.

About one third of ITA’s 70+ presenting brands will be new to the Coterie show, and there will be many new designers to discover in the categories of women’s RTW, handbags, shoes, and fashion jewelry, as well as the much-anticipated perennial favorite brands.

“ITA is dedicated in supporting our brand partners and is highly invested – not in just the economic sense, but emotionally as well. It is a joy to support their wins – and we’ve seen some big ones lately. Some of our Coterie brands past and present have been picked up by world-known retailers of the highest caliber, like Saks Fifth Avenue,” comments Italian Trade Commissioner, Mr. Antonino Laspina. “We’ve amassed some impactful ‘proof of concept’ for Italian brands that proves that relationship building and consistency in marketing messaging and content creation can absolutely result in the international expansion every entrepreneur dreams about.”

The Italian Trade Agency (ITA) is now hosting more trade shows, networking events, and consumer-facing events than ever before to support Italian brands as they recovered post-pandemic and look to the future – in more regional American markets than ever before as well.

Following Coterie, ITA will debut its first-ever fashion “roadshow” starting March 13-15 in LA in collaboration with Designers & Agents and Brand Assembly. The roadshow will then move to Dallas, Miami, and Atlanta, bringing new Italian brands to regional US markets via B2B appointments with retailers and buyers. This spring ITA will unveil a new site refresh for EXTRAITASTYLE, ITA’s exclusive digital platform with wholesale tools designed to make it easier for American retailers to discover 100+ Italian brands online. ITA has a busy summer ahead partnering with the Cosmoprof North America Beauty show in Las Vegas, the Feel the Yarn show in NYC featuring world-class Italian yards, and the National Bridal Show in Chicago. Then it will move directly into supporting the next round of US fashion tradeshows including the Chicago Collective menswear show in August, previewing Spring/Summer 2024 collections, followed by the Functional Fabric Fair in Portland highlighting Italian technical fabrics… plus a few more surprises yet-to-be-announced.

Overall, 2022 saw a continued post-pandemic comeback for Italian brands. Thanks to the resilience and the spirit of the Italian entrepreneurs - and certainly thanks to the measures adopted by the Italian government - ITA has seen a growth of the Italian export in the US in many sectors, and fashion has been among the best performers. The U.S. market is of strategic relevance for Italian fashion manufacturers (Apparel, Footwear, Leather Goods, Skins and Furs, Textiles and Yarns, Eyewear, Cosmetics and Jewelry), both in terms of size and driving capacity in consumer behavior patterns, compared to the rest of the world. The United States, in terms of consumers of fashion products, represents the leading non-European Union market for “Made in Italy”.

Italy is the fourth largest supplier for U.S. imports in the Fashion sector. The U.S. imported $13.34 Billion worth of products from Italy in 2022, up +10,4% over 2021, exceeding the value imported in 2019 pre-pandemic ($9 billion) by more than 48%. Italy, with a market share of nearly 5%, ranks 4^th over 2022, among the major supplier countries to the U.S., after China (11%), Vietnam (33%), and India (10.4%). In 2022, the following 5 products accounted for 85% of Italian Fashion exports to the U.S.: footwear (18.2% of the total), apparel (15.8%), goldsmithing/jewelry (20.3%), leather goods (17.4%) and eyewear (12.1%). The main products for export in 2022 are confirmed to grow with double-digit values, with some products in a leading position. In 2022, Italy was the top U.S. supplier in leather and furs (1), eyewear and leather goods (2), and footwear (4).