Lineapelle is gearing up for its 106th edition, which will take place from September 23 to 25 at the Fiera Milano Rho exhibition spaces, featuring 1,150 exhibitors from 37 countries. Meanwhile, the show presented today in Milan the eighth edition of its Designers Edition project, which aims to promote the image and excellence of Italian leather through the collections of creatives from around the world.

From September 23 to 29, in conjunction with Women’s Fashion Week, the event will support 17 designers and brands, who will bring fashion shows, installations, and artistic contaminations to life. For this edition, the event moves the fashion shows from the Rho exhibition center to the heart of Milan, in Piazza Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, next to Spazio Lineapelle. The nine fashion shows, organized inside a tensile-structure greenhouse called the “Leather Fashion Hub,” will feature 1972 Desa, Agg Anton Giulio Grande, Alberto Zambelli, Chronos Corps, Leonardovalentini | Laboratorio Riciclo Pelle, Lorenzo Seghezzi, Maragno, Marco Rambaldi, and Mastewal. Meanwhile, Spazio Lineapelle will host presentations by the brands Absent Findings, Amato Daniele, Biagini, Dienèe, DOYS, Dúběn, PabePabe, and TVL | TheVerticaline.

“It is very important for us to support young creatives. We have been doing this since 1984, and in a more structured manner since 2020, with the opening of our dedicated space and the “About Leather” exhibition. Since its inception, the Designers Edition project has hosted over 50 fashion shows and presentations, attracting more than 9,000 guests. We also take the creativity of young Italian designers abroad, with our events in London, New York, Tokyo, and China,” explained Fulvia Bacchi, Lineapelle CEO and general manager of UNIC – Italian Tanneries. “In addition, we support both students and managers in the industry with leather training courses: between 2024 and 2025 we held 270, with the participation of more than 7,000 people. We collaborate with 75 institutes in Italy and 30 abroad, and we are in the process of forming agreements with several universities in Japan and Korea. Soon we will open a Lineapelle Space in Korea, a kind of ‘materials library’ for students.”

UNIC – Italian Tanneries and Lineapelle also collaborate with numerous organizations, including Camera Moda Fashion Trust. Its co-founder and co-CEO, Umberta Gnutti Beretta, who spoke at the conference, explained, “In addition to an annual donation, Lineapelle has decided to support the young people followed by the Fashion Trust also with training courses, providing them with the materials to work on and helping them economically in producing their creations. We share a belief: that young people are truly the engine and hope of the industry.”

Additionally, Lineapelle has established the LP Fashion Studio space at its headquarters, located at Via Brisa 3 in Milan. The space constantly hosts hundreds of students—both Italian and international—and organizes lessons and visits for academies, fashion schools, professional training institutes, and delegations (both domestic and foreign). LP Fashion Studio offers, with its 20,000 samples including leathers and accessories, an international overview of past and future trends, representing a unique resource in the world for all designers and researchers in the leather sector.

“A key message we want to convey with all these initiatives is that leather, unlike what the uninitiated think, is a sustainable material, as it is derived from slaughterhouse waste that would otherwise have to be disposed of. It is also sustainable because it lasts a long time,” Bacchi concludes. “Italian tanneries are recognized for the excellence of their products, which meet all the circularity and sustainability requirements demanded by designer labels, who are in fact buying our tanneries to ensure the best. Italy accounts for 70 percent of Europe’s leather production and 25 percent of the world’s leather production. By promoting the creation of leather clothing and accessories, we are promoting Made in Italy and our country’s economy.”