White Milano: the internationalization of ‘new luxury’

In the just-concluded February 2025 edition, the show gave space to a selection of 300 brands that WHITE defines as new luxury (in the proportion of 55 percent from Italy and 45 percent from abroad), also from emerging markets, demonstrating how the event is increasingly the global benchmark for innovation, creativity and elegance in curating fittings. On the visitor front, the benchmark event for women’s boutique fashion welcomed a 7 percent increase in foreign buyers thanks to intense and targeted promotional work in international markets, while the domestic market was affected by the industry’s difficulties and recorded a 12 percent drop. In particular, White’s ambassadors in the world are the Gulf and Middle East countries, South Korea, Japan, South America, Canada, Northern Europe, DATCH Area, Benelux, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Vietnam, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Poland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Turkey and Africa.

The initiatives concretized through the CIRCLE project, in partnership with Monica Sarti, have been highly appreciated: a wide-ranging vision of the future that saw its beginnings with the signing of the MoU with Retail Leader Circle, a point of reference in the Gulf and Middle East countries. Thanks to the launch of this project, WHITE will have a permanent presence in Riyadh with the AlMalki Group for brand selection at WESTERLY, opening 3 stores in the Yacht Club in Jeddah, two pop-ups with events from October to December at Ether in Abu Dhabi and Wild Fabrik in Dubai, and last but not least a pop-up at 51East in Doha to be opened also by year-end 2025.

WHITE, thanks to its many international initiatives, thus represents an authentic intercontinental crossroads where buyers, designers, media and industry professionals meet to chart the new routes of contemporary fashion.

As for the brands that have captured the interest of the media, there are the protagonists of the Secret Rooms: five international designers-YID’PHROGMA (China), MAZ Manuela ALVAREZ (Colombia), CAROLXOTT (Estonia), OH CARLA (Italy) and RENÈ (Denmark).

Thanks to the alliance with Confartigianato, we also report the participation of 24 selected companies with entirely Made in Italy artisan DNA: BLUI, DLB, DOUUOD, MA’RY’YA, MAURIZIO MASSIMINO, PINTORIE, PS DON’T FORGET ME, SCAGLIONE, SHE’S SO, 12PM, ARRON, FRANCESCA BIANCHI DESIGN, FORNARI, LABELLE, LE DAF, MONTE SPORT, PASSION BLANCHE, REPTILE’S HOUESE, SALCE 197, SHOTO, SILVIA GNECCHI, VIPERA, VIVYINROSA and RELEASE DISTRIBUTION.

A number of foreign designers presented new additions to their collections representing their country’s creativity: from Spain, thanks to ICEX España Exportación e Inversiones, an organization that supports Spanish companies in the internationalization of their business, participated 814 EZCARAY, ASPRÓN STUDIO, AUGUSTA, CUSTO BARCELONA, FLABELUS, HENRY HARROWAY, NKN NEKANE, SKATÏE, SKFK, SSSTUFFF, SURKANA, THE EXTREME COLLECTION and YERSE. From Armenia, on the other hand, comes the shortlist of creatives presented by the Fashion & Garment Chamber of Armenia, with co-financing from the Private Sector Development and TVET South Caucasus Program and support from GIZ Armenia on behalf of the German government: ACHE BCN, ANKASA, BOYAKHCHYAN, TAT MNOYAN, MADE_VEL_E, MOMENTS OF WHITE, NIKOLYAN, SHABEEG, THE WORKSHOP YEREVAN and Z.G.EST.

The next event is set for June 21-23 with the 2026 summer collections.