The Tamesis
The Fall/Winter 2026 menswear season kicks off today in Florence with the Pitti Uomo menswear trade show, before we head north for Milan Men’s Fashion Week. With some exciting guest designers, an influx of international talent and some returning big names, there’s a lot to look forward to this season.
“Florence and Milan continue to establish themselves as hubs for creative fashion and menswear, places of constant dialogue about identity, experimentation and industry,” said Carlo Capasa, President of the National Fashion Council of Italy (CNMI). “Menswear is a very important sector for the Italian fashion system and it is showing signs of greater resilience against the backdrop of wider challenges facing the industry. This does not represent a full recovery but an easing of contraction and a relatively more solid export performance compared to other segments.”
Here are the brands, shows and events to watch this season.
pitiumo
Pitti Uomo will hold its 109th edition from January 13 to 16, bringing together more than 750 brands from around the world. The theme for this season’s show is “Movement,” reflecting how menswear is constantly changing, intersecting with everything from performance to travel to everyday life.
Parisian designer Hed Mayner will serve as one of three guest designers this season, bringing his architectural silhouettes to Florence for the first time. Mayner launched his eponymous label in 2015 and debuted on the Paris Fashion Week menswear calendar in 2017, before winning the Karl Lagerfeld Award at the 2019 LVMH Awards. Previous guest designers include Martine Rose and Raf Simons.
“We are constantly surprised by the delicate balance he achieves through contrast, without any effort, in each piece: poetry and comfort, freedom and precision, intelligence and craftsmanship,” Francesca Tacconi, special events coordinator for Pitti Immagine, the show’s parent company, said in a statement. “For all these reasons and more, we can’t wait to welcome Hed Mayner to Pitti this January. Uomo, and discover the project he is creating for his Florence debut.”
Pitti Uomo gradually expanded its exhibitor lineup to welcome design talent from outside Europe, especially Japan. Satoshi Kuwata of Setchu, winner of the 2023 LVMH Prize, debuted at Pitti in January 2025, while Issey Miyake staged an impressive show at last summer’s Villa Medicea della Petraia show. This season, however, there has been an influx of emerging talent from Japan.
Soshiotsuki SS26 Men’sPhoto: Courtesy of Soshiotsuki
The remaining two guest designer slots will be awarded to poetic Japanese menswear designer Shinyakozuka and 2025 LVMH Prize winner Soshiotsuki. The former was launched in 2015 and is quite large, with about 50 stockists in Japan and 20 globally; Wednesday night will be the first time the film has been staged in Europe, ten years after it was staged in Tokyo. Then, Soshiotsuki, known for its blend of Chinese and Western tailoring, will hold a show on Thursday at 3 p.m. Following the signing of a strategic agreement with brand incubator Tomorrow last November and a major collaboration with Zara late last year, the Pitti show will be the next step in the designer’s mission to further expand in the West.
