Ever since its inception, Kapten & Son has been committed to turning every moment into a meaningful experience, offering innovative, functional products with eye-catching designs. The brand’s extensive collection ranges from sunglasses to travel gear, right through to a versatile range of bags and rucksacks. It is these rucksacks in particular that perfectly blend style and practicality: available in various sizes (from 4 to 26 litres), they are ideal for work, university, sport and leisure. Made from high-quality materials and available in a wide range of modern styles and colours, Kapten & Son rucksacks offer all the space you need to organise your everyday essentials – such as laptops, documents and water bottles – in the best possible way.
D.A.T.E unveils RETRÒ, its new aesthetic manifesto
Raw canvas, textured inserts and premium leathers coexist in a quest for balance where imperfection becomes a design detail and contrast takes on aesthetic value. Offering a preview of the season’s vision is RETRÒ, a new release presented exclusively at Pitti: a sneaker that encapsulates the collection’s minimalist approach and embodies the concept of ‘quiet luxury’. Crafted from nappa leather and suede, completely unlined and free of internal reinforcements, it offers extreme lightness and comfort, emphasising the sensation of a shoe that naturally accompanies the body’s movement. The design draws on archival sportswear imagery reimagined with a contemporary twist: the round cotton lace, the technical eyelet on the first hole and the honey-coloured rubber sole define a clean, versatile and authentic aesthetic. On the side of the upper, there is also a new interpretation of the distinctive D.A.T.E. logo: four small squares representing the brand’s four founders and embodying its original DNA..
Aeronautica Militare: a narrative that blends Urban, Military and Heritage
The Italian sportswear brand, born from an exclusive agreement between the Italian Air Force General Staff and Cristiano di Thiene S.p.A. – which for over twenty years has been translating the history and values of the Armed Forces into clothing – presents a men’s collection for next summer that reinterprets the brand’s roots to project them into the wardrobe of tomorrow. The narrative of the SS27 season is structured around three distinct themes, which blend together in a play of layers and layering.
Urban interprets a concept of contemporary classicism designed for those seeking understated elegance and shunning ostentation. Iconic, timeless pieces such as cotton chinos or jersey polo shirts offer sophisticated versatility that flows naturally throughout the day.
Military embodies the brand’s deepest essence, where functional inspiration translates into form and character. Field jackets, bomber jackets and military-style overshirts evolve into clean, contemporary silhouettes, blending a glorious history with maximum practicality.
Heritage brings the story to a close with the power of its iconic details and distinctive features. The embroidery stands out as a defining element, evoking craftsmanship, authenticity and a sense of belonging, making each piece unique and instantly recognisable.
As for accessories, the minimalist leather and suede trainers are designed to effortlessly complement any outfit, whilst the iconic helmet bag has evolved into a rucksack, preserving intact the sense of belonging that has always distinguished Aeronautica Militare.
Cuoio di Toscana presents He(ART)
Unveiled at Pitti Uomo 110, the collaboration stems from the convergence of the tanneries’ manufacturing heritage and the creative vision of a designer who has helped define the aesthetic language of some of the world’s leading international luxury brands. He(ART) places the material, the culture of craftsmanship and the value of Italian artisanal tradition at the heart of the collection. This limited-edition collection interprets sole leather not merely as a technical component of footwear, but as an identifying feature – a symbol of quality, durability and timeless beauty. Among the models, the unisex Softy moccasin stands out, characterised by a particularly flexible construction and hand-crafted details. For Cuoio di Toscana, the project forms part of an initiative aimed at promoting the region’s manufacturing heritage through collaborations that amplify its cultural and international significance.
Farewell to Roberto Pellegrini, the chairman who brought the world to Expo Riva Schuh and Gardabags
From every trip he returned with a small globe. Not a souvenir: a reminder. Because for Roberto Pellegrini, broadening one’s horizons was not just a figure of speech, but a way of working.
President of Riva del Garda Fierecongressi since 2007, he transformed a territorial trade fair into a crossroads of markets and cultures. It was his intuition to take Expo Riva Schuh beyond national borders: the Middle East (2008–2009), India (2011–2013), and the consolidation of ties with China. The international footwear industry owes part of its global reach to him.
He used to repeat two phrases. “When I look back, I see the future.” And “You recognise thoroughbreds on the uphill stretch.” The first encapsulates his vision of growth: memory as a laboratory, not a museum. The second says it all about him. Those who worked with him remember the man behind the role: the informal “you” he insisted on with everyone, colleagues addressed by name, no air of superiority.
He passed away on 8 August 2026, aged 76, following a serious illness. He leaves behind a more international trade fair and his globes, which still point the way forward.
We extend our thanks to him for the many years we worked together – intense, full of energy, and always punctuated with a bit of laughter.
The AEC is focusing on AI to drive growth in the sector
The specialised training programme in Artificial Intelligence, aimed at professionals and companies in the sector, is organised in collaboration with 3DSoul School and funded by the Valencian Regional Government’s Department of Industry, Tourism, Innovation and Trade, with the aim of accelerating digitalisation, automation and business innovation in the footwear components sector. The initiative has been designed to integrate Artificial Intelligence into the day-to-day operations of companies, through highly practical content and use cases relating to management, design, production, logistics, sales, e-commerce, technical documentation and customer support.
The programme comprises 72 hours of face-to-face teaching and will take place between September and October 2026 at the 3DSoul School campus in Elche (Avenida de la Libertad, 136), with a maximum of 15 participants per course. The training will be free of charge for participants, as it is funded by the Generalitat Valenciana.
“With this programme, we aim to help companies in the sector integrate artificial intelligence in a useful, secure and results-oriented way, boosting their productivity, their capacity for innovation and their competitiveness,” says Álvaro Sánchez, Director-General of the AEC.
FIVE COMPLEMENTARY TRAINING COURSES
As part of the 72-hour training programme, participants will be able to choose the courses best suited to their professional needs:
1. Introduction to generative AI applied to the business world, lasting 21 hours.
2. Automation of business activities and processes using AI, lasting 15 hours.
3. Digitalisation of business processes using AI and Vibe-Coding tools, lasting 18 hours.
4. AI agents, agent-based AI, risks and security in the workplace, lasting 12 hours.
5. Research and development in generative AI applied to the footwear sector, lasting 6 hours.
The activities will combine basic technological concepts with sector-specific workshops, including the creation of content and visual resources, the automation of orders and documents, the creation of dashboards, the prototyping of no-code solutions, the implementation of virtual assistants, and the analysis of risks related to cyber security and the protection of business information.
Info: www.3dsoulschool.es/acciones-formativas-calzado-aec/
Ympact launches 4s ETHIC
In the presence of over 100 professionals from the fashion industry, ‘4s ETHIC’ – version 1.0 of the Guidelines designed to support more responsible, transparent and integrated supply chains – was officially launched on 14 May at the Confindustria Moda headquarters in Milan. The new fashion supply chain monitoring system, developed by Ympact in collaboration with industry stakeholders, is the result of an intensive process lasting over a year, coordinated by Ympact through a Harmonisation Committee involving brands, manufacturers, verification bodies and trade associations, with the aim of establishing a common approach to managing environmental, social, health and safety, and corporate integrity risks throughout the supply chain. At the heart of the programme is the creation of a harmonised checklist and a shared supply chain monitoring system, called 4s ETHIC, powered by the Ympact digital platform.
The aim is to overcome the fragmentation of audits and documentation requests that currently place a burden on manufacturing companies, by introducing a common language and an interoperable system for verifying environmental and social compliance within the fashion supply chain. Whilst the institutional framework sets out the principles of conduct, 4s ETHIC’s Guideline 1.0 provides a ready-to-use technical and digital solution for implementing and verifying compliance and transparency requirements in a collaborative and digital manner.
GUIDELINE 1.0
The 4s ETHIC Guideline 1.0 is an operational tool designed to assist companies within the supply chain in implementing harmonised requirements and preparing for the verification activities that will commence in June 2026.
The Guidelines define:
• the architecture of the monitoring system;
• the audit procedures;
• the criteria for the qualification of verification bodies;
• a shared framework of requirements organised into five key areas: Management System; Environment; Health and Safety; Social; Corporate Integrity and Reputation.
The 4s ETHIC system provides for on-site audits conducted by third-party bodies qualified according to shared criteria of independence, competence and impartiality, using methodologies based on the triangulation of documentary evidence, direct observations and confidential interviews with workers.
The first qualified body within the system is Bureau Veritas Italia, which contributed to the pilot phase of the model’s technical implementation, carried out with the involvement of four companies in the supply chain and a number of brands to review the system for sharing results.
“Identifying the risks and impacts of responsible fashion supply chains is now a strategic priority for the fashion sector,” said Francesca Rulli, founder of the 4sustainability® framework and co-founder of Ympact. “We need to move away from fragmented monitoring models towards shared systems capable of generating reliable data, transparency and value throughout the value chain. With 4s ETHIC, we wanted to contribute to building a shared infrastructure that supports businesses in strengthening their compliance frameworks and, at the same time, enables a concrete path of continuous improvement, to the benefit of the competitiveness and credibility of ‘Made in Italy’ on the international stage. “I would like to thank Confindustria Moda for its collaboration and all the participants in the working group, who, through their experience, professionalism and willingness to share, have demonstrated a commitment to working together for the future of responsible fashion.”
The Ympact platform will serve as the system’s digital infrastructure, enabling the centralised collection of evidence, the controlled sharing of information amongst authorised stakeholders, and the structured management of audit and follow-up processes.
The initiative marks an important step towards building increasingly responsible and transparent fashion supply chains, strengthening the competitiveness of ‘Made in Italy’ in an international context characterised by growing regulatory and market expectations regarding risk assessment, sustainability and digital transformation.
WRÅD shows how to talk about sustainability in an engaging way
Every year, Benefit companies devote a great deal of energy and investment to producing their Impact Report: an official document that outlines the activities carried out, the objectives achieved and the value generated for people, society and the environment. However, very few people actually read it. It remains a document confined to a small circle of industry professionals, consultants and internal stakeholders. The WRÅD brand sought to address this very contradiction: if sustainability aims to change the world, why does it continue to be communicated through formats that people avoid? It therefore set itself a concrete challenge: to transform this reporting into content capable of capturing the public’s interest.
This is how ‘Real-World Puzzles’ came about – a publishing project that transforms WRÅD’s 2025 Impact Report into a book of games and puzzles designed to entertain, connect and stimulate dialogue. So, if impact reporting can become something to take with you under your beach umbrella, then perhaps it is not just the format of the report that changes, but also the role these tools can play in making change more accessible, understandable and widely embraced.
‘Puzzles for the Real World’ uses the most iconic puzzle formats – crosswords, rebuses, anagrams, quizzes, brain teasers and trivia – to raise awareness of responsible design and to showcase the projects, research and cultural references that have characterised WRÅD’s work throughout 2025 and beyond. The themes range from design to fashion, from health to responsibility, from history to systemic transformation, inviting the reader to participate actively. WRÅD chooses play as a design tool to transform complex information into shared experiences.
“Companies, including many of our clients, invest enormous amounts of resources in drafting these documents,” says Giorgio Fermanelli, Director of Impact at WRÅD. “But if nobody reads them, what’s the point? This project arose from a real need we identified. Most of the brands we work with told us of their frustration at the limited real impact these reports had.”
The publication was launched and handed out to passers-by on 15 July at the Edicola Erno newsagent’s in Rome. However, this initiative does not replace WRÅD’s standard social report, which remains freely available online on the company’s website, but rather complements it perfectly, presenting the data in an interactive and inclusive format.
In this way, a document typically analysed in the office or during briefings is transformed into a magazine that can be read anywhere, even under a beach umbrella. This choice represents a clear strategy for WRÅD, a design and consultancy firm founded by Matteo Ward in 2015 and which, in 2025, became part of Inside Out (IO), a global holding company dedicated to improving human and planetary health. Operating at the intersection of culture, business and policy, WRÅD helps organisations rethink the role that products and services play in society. Clients who have worked with WRÅD to rethink how they communicate their impact initiatives include EssilorLuxottica, PVH, Ferragamo, Vestiaire Collective and Montura.
Italian Fashion Days in Korea brings 52 Tricolour brands to Seoul
Excellent results and a highly select audience characterised ITALIAN FASHION DAYS IN KOREA, the trade fair conceived by Ente Moda Italia in collaboration with the Italian Furriers’ Association, Assocalzaturifici, Assopellettieri and Confindustria Moda, in partnership with Bottega Italia and supported by ICE – Agency and the Italian Embassy in Korea, establishing itself as a showcase of the utmost importance for ‘Made in Italy’.
The event attracted the leading local commercial players, boutique owners, department store representatives, buyers and industry specialists, cementing the event’s status as an essential meeting point for forging sales agreements, signing new contracts, finalising orders and launching new Italian labels.
There was a notable focus on women’s clothing and leather goods collections, which have historically accounted for the bulk of our exports to that Asian country. Encouraging feedback was also received from the menswear sector, which is gradually consolidating its market share at the fair by attracting targeted buyers, whilst the Kids category made a successful debut – a new section that enabled Italian companies to connect with the leading Korean distributors operating in the children’s segment.
A rich programme of events helped to boost the fair’s media coverage, including the Talk Panel moderated by Alberto Mondi – a session focusing on new trends in the Korean fashion sector, attended by leading figures: designer Seok Yongbae, Musinsa’s global head Kim Jiyae, Lee Jaejun from the purchasing division of Galleria Department Store, Lee Jungmin, head of Trendlab 506, Kim Boyoung, vice-president of Fashionbiz, and Rhee Junebok, creator of the Re Rhee brand.
The Networking Event, held on 2 July at High Street Italia and designed to facilitate direct dialogue between Italian manufacturers and a select group of elite buyers, distribution agencies, influencers and media outlets, was also very well received by the public. The next instalment of Italian Fashion Days in Korea is already scheduled for 27–29 January 2027.
LINEAPELLE 108 set to present its AW 27/28 previews
Following the success of the LINEAPELLE London (30 June) and LINEAPELLE New York (15–16 July) previews, the spotlight is now on Milan, with the world’s leading trade fair for professionals in the fashion, design and furniture sectors, showcasing the latest offerings from the Autumn/Winter 2027/2028 collections.
This edition, number 108, gets underway under the banner of synergies, coinciding with Simac Tanning Tech (the leading international trade fair dedicated to machinery and technologies for footwear, leather goods and tanning), whilst FILO (the international yarn and fibre exhibition) will once again be hosted within its premises. LINEAPELLE will also take place partly in conjunction with Micam, Mipel and TheOne, the final day of which (Tuesday 15 September) will coincide with the first day of LINEAPELLE.
As always, the programme of talks, meetings and in-depth sessions – packed with inspiration for professionals – will focus on key themes for the future of the fashion industry, such as in detail: “The Rebellious Surface: Skin as an Evocative Material at the Crossroads of the Fashion System, the Collective Imagination and Urban Legend”, curated by Antonio Mancinelli (writer, lecturer and fashion critic), Ida Galati (fashion teller) and Rebecca Bagini (CEO of StyledbyMe); ‘Make way for the young’, a dialogue between journalist Mariella Milani and emerging designers Leonardo Valentini (LEONARDOVALENTINI), Angelo Cruciani (Yezael), Simone Botte (Simon Cracker) and Flora Rabitti (Florania). There will also be an in-depth analysis, organised by ICEC – the Quality Certification Institute for the Tanning Industry – on the subject of European Union Directive 2024/825 against greenwashing, legislation transposed by Decree-Law No. 30/2026, which came into force at the end of September.
There will also be a presentation of the new AW 2027/2028 trends, developed by the LINEAPELLE Fashion Committee and summarised in the stylistic project ‘Prompt – Seductive Algorithms: The Illusion of Sweetness’.
LINEAPELLE also extends beyond the confines of the trade fair with the tenth edition of DESIGNERS EDITION, a project promoting leather and young talent in style and fashion, which will take place alongside Milan Fashion Week and will feature nine fashion shows – from 23 to 25 September at the Leather Fashion Hub in Piazza Tomasi di Lampedusa – and five brand presentations to be held at the Spazio Lineapelle from 22 to 26 September.