Fashion Humber professor, Julie Savile recently attended one of the biggest International Leather Trade Fairs, “Lineapelle 2017” in Milan! Aside from teaching, Julie runs a leather business (est.2014), called “Source Apparel”. She has been sourcing and producing various types of high quality leather products to distributing them to around 80 stores across Canada. Hence going to this worldwide-known exhibition is a must for Julie!
So, what is Lineapelle?
Lineapelle is an international exhibition of leather, accessories, components, synthetics and models for footwear, leather goods, garments and furniture. It is the Mecca of the leather trade fairs that takes place binually in the Milan Fair in Rho, Italy. Because leather suppliers and buyers come from all around the world hunting for new leathers, prints, colors, etc. Over 1000 qualified exhibitors from 44 countries set up their booth in this show to present their latest collections for the next season. The show itself is very exclusive, only registered trade operators belonging to the admitted categories in the leather industry are allowed to participate.
This year, the first exhibition of Lineapelle 2017 took place from 21 February-23 February. Because it was right during our reading week that allowed Julie to go there and share her exciting trip with Fashion Humber students.
Fashion Humber Professors Perspective
“We went for a week, the week of the break. Then walked around ‘cos we stayed right downtown in Milan. After, we take pictures of everything in the window. Because I teach fashion courses, I take pictures for school. I kind of take pictures of everything and we looked at all of these high-end designers’ windows for design inspiration for my students.”
“We were at the show the Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. All day Wednesday, we just looked at hardware people, buckles, studs, eyelets, any kind of metal embellishment that we could put on. I was looking for people that came up with interesting things that I could use. So you could sit down with them and you could write order for samples. The second day is all leather and we went to meet all the vendors that we buy all the leather from. What’s new, what colors are trending, there’s always a big discussion about leather coming out of Italy versus Bangladesh or other places. So, the last day we went to look at machinery. After, we walked building after building. The machinery is all kind of machinery on how to make shoes, belts, or print leathers.” Julie shares.
Find out more what Julie says about the show details and the new leather trends for 2017 in our next article!
All photos courtesy of Julie Savile
Additional sources:
http://www.lineapelle-fair.it/en
http://www.tradefairdates.com/Lineapelle-Milano-M13246/Rho.html
