In presenting Milan Fashion Week's lineup to the press, the general director of Agenzia ICE, a division of Italy's Trade Agency that promotes Italian companies abroad, highlighted the industry's 108 billion euros ($120 billion) in turnover and exports of 81.6 billion euros, reports AFP.
In Italy, "the fashion system is the one that contributes more than others to consolidating the image of our country's excellence abroad," he said.
A crucial sector that represents five percent of Italy's gross domestic product (GDP), the health of Italy's fashion industry is currently less rosy than the coming glamorous catwalk shows would suggest.
So far this year, turnover is down 6.1 percent, according to figures from the National Chamber for Italian Fashion, with the trend expected to continue in the second half of the year.
Forecasts suggest the industry's revenue this year will end up down 3.5 percent from 2023 levels, with recent results from top luxury groups confirming the findings, which are in sharp contrast to years of double-digit growth.
French luxury conglomerate LVMH, which owns the Italian brands Fendi and Loro Piana, saw its 2024 first-half revenue slip one percent to 41.7 billion euros ($46.4 billion).
Rival Kering -- owner of Gucci and Bottega Veneta -- saw an 11 percent drop in revenue to nine billion euros, with net profit falling by half.
Kering warned that operating earnings in the second half of the year would be down by about a third.
The difficult economic headwinds, fuelled by weakness in the key market of China along with inflation and weak consumer confidence, have pushed fashion houses to restructure, reorganise their teams or diversify.
Milan Fashion Week is not only a crucial marketing and sales event for the industry, but it plays a major economic role for the industrial city itself.
A study carried out by Milan chapter of business association Confcommercio found the city stands to reap 396 million euros from this month's shows and the upcoming February fashion week -- calculated in hotel nights, restaurant reservations and other activity.
Around 245,000 people, of which 56 percent are Italians, flood the city during the two weeks of Milan fashion, spending on average 1,638 euros per person per edition.