“We received a great deal of positive feedback on the presence of highly qualified, high-profile buyers from Italy and abroad, who found in Florence a carefully selected mix of established brands and new names to discover,” said Ivano Cauli, CEO of Pitti Immagine.
However, in an industry saturated with brands, product launches, trade fairs, and digital communications, it is fair to ask why professionals continue to invest time and resources in attending a tradeshow that is far from being the biggest one. Across interviews conducted by Premium Beauty News with brand founders, executives, perfumers, distributors, retailers, and organizers, one answer emerged consistently: Pitti has evolved without losing the distinctive identity that makes it matter.
A recognizable identity
“For me, the show that understands artistic perfumery is Pitti,” said Moe Khalaf, founder and creative director of Kajal Perfumes. He described walking through the fair before the doors opened and being repeatedly struck by the creativity of the exhibiting brands. For him, Pitti has become more than a trade show: it has become an identity within the niche fragrance world.
Longstanding participants frequently describe returning to Pitti as coming home. After attending for more than a decade, Khalaf says that “it feels like home”. Aistis Mickevičius, founder and perfumer of FUMparFUM, attended Pitti as a visitor only a few years ago and returned a year later with his own brand. He now refers to Pitti as a kind of “motherland”.
The fair’s human scale is central to this feeling. As Jean-Philippe Clermont, founder and creative director of Atelier Des Ors, put it simply: “You can breathe deeply here.” On the stands, he added, “The noise has been turned down. People have time.”
Human connections
Interviewees repeatedly referred, in one way or another, to Pitti’s human dimension. Perfume may be the product on display, but the ecosystem supporting niche perfumery is built on relationships, shared experience, and trust.
Sales, distribution agreements, and collaborations, which are essential for businesses to survive, often begin with something less tangible: sufficient time and space for a real conversation, the development of mutual confidence, and the gradual formation of personal relationships. Pitti’s particular strength appears to lie in its ability to create and protect an environment in which these human connections — and the business they may eventually generate — can flourish together.
The Pitti experience extends beyond the stands. Florence provides a distinctive, historic setting for lunches, dinners, and informal gatherings where professional relationships can deepen. Luca Falchetti, founder of the longstanding Italian distributor Essenses, sees this time together as an essential part of a trade fair. Three days in Florence allow him to get to know more deeply the people and brands he represents before presenting them to Italian retailers.
Florence also offers unique and inimitable spaces for parties and events. A secluded garden event hosted by dsm-firmenich offered one example: raw-material specialists, perfumers, fragrance-house representatives, journalists, and publishers came together in surroundings that encouraged conversations beyond the bustle of the fair.
Such encounters are not merely pleasant additions to the business program. For the world of artistic perfumery, which many describe as more of a community than an industry, they are part of how collaborations begin and how trust is maintained.
A place to discover—and be discovered
Pitti has long offered emerging and experimental brands an opportunity to present themselves within an established professional framework.
Marc Janssen, founder of Berlin perfumery 15West, described Pitti’s selection as “a nice crossover between what’s coming up next and what’s actually possible to sell”.
Sebastian Jara, known as The Perfume Guy and founder of ScentFest SF, put it this way: “A brand you might have skipped or missed at a bigger show gets your attention here.” He specifically recalled discovering the African-themed fragrance house Réserve en Afrique at Pitti after overlooking it several years in a row at a much larger fair.
For fragrance brands themselves, discovery can produce concrete results. Sophia Gyé-Jacquot, founder of Mezel, exhibited in 2025 and returned this year within the portfolio of 50 ml Distribution. She had met Matteo Stringhini, co-founder of 50 ml, at Pitti the previous year. The new arrangement provided logistical support, additional staff, and Italian-language assistance, allowing her to devote more attention to presenting her work.
Stefania Giannino, co-founder of Nobile 1942, emphasized another practical advantage, particularly within the Italian market: many of the people visiting Pitti are owners, distributors, and retail decision-makers. They can place an order, begin a partnership, or make a commitment directly. “They are the ones who can sign the check,” she said, thereby essentially short-circuiting the longer chains of approval that may follow an initial encounter at a larger fair.
Beyond its role as a showcase, Pitti offers a window onto the life of an industry—its present vitality and the people, brands, and ideas shaping its evolution.
François Duquesne, founder and CEO of Maison Duquesne, described coming to Florence to “feel the pulse” of the industry — a way to step outside the demands of his own business, take a broader view, and reconsider what is changing.
For large fragrance houses, the fair can serve as a radar for future talent, according to Bernardo Cauvin, VP Sales, Fine Fragrance at Givaudan. While a brand exhibiting today may not survive, the person behind it may later become an important perfumer, creative director, or entrepreneur. Pitti can incubate people as well as brands.
A meeting point for Italy and the world
If Pitti’s fundamental Italian character has endured, one change was particularly noticeable in 2026: the increasingly international composition of its visitors.
Véronique Spoturno, founder of Spoturno, said that she had come with the idea of widening the recognition and distribution of her brand in Italy and had been surprised by the wider geographical range of the people visiting her stand. Alongside Italian professionals, she met visitors from Germany, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, the United States, the United Kingdom, and China.
Giannino of Nobile 1942 similarly reported promising international contacts. In her view, Pitti attracts professionals specifically looking for artistic houses that are not already available everywhere.
In today’s crowded fragrance market, the challenge is no longer a lack of newness or quality. Buyers, distributors, retailers, and journalists face an overabundance of launches, brands, and trade fairs, all with potentially worthwhile stories. Interviewees overwhelmingly agreed that Pitti has earned their trust by remaining large enough to generate new opportunities yet contained enough to preserve its distinctive identity and intimacy.
The challenge is to sustain that balance in an industry experiencing exponential growth: as Marc Janssen put it, “Pitti’s strength is its selection. Growth is fine. Losing that is not.”
