Business & Pleasure: a Postcard from Milan

2024-07-16

Last week, we went on a short trip to Milan. Our main goal was to visit the Milano Unica trade fair, but the business trip also became an excuse to have a bit of fun in this beautiful (though incredibly hot) city and send you an analog postcard documenting that.

As the title suggests, first business, then pleasure!

First, a word about the trade fair itself. Milano Unica is one of the most important events for the textile industry globally, while for the classic menswear sector, it is probably the one. Twice a year, nearly all the major fabric manufacturers gather there, from large, renowned mills to small, family-run companies.

Exhibitors occupy four large halls, with one always catching our interest the most: the hall almost entirely dedicated to two sections, Ideabiella (the best suiting fabrics by high-end mills from Italy, the UK, and Ireland), and Shirt Avenue (shirt fabrics by top manufacturers). The remaining three feature a diverse mix of producers offering various fabrics (from women's fashion to ultra-modern techwear) and accessories (including all kinds of buttons, metal hardware, labels, etc.). Interesting additions are the Korea Observatory and Japan Observatory sections, curated by respective national export promotion organizations and dedicated to various producers from these countries.

For us, regular visits to MU are the best opportunity to nurture existing relationships with suppliers and establish new ones. With so many booths in one place, you can always be sure to find hidden treasures, gems, and surprises. Often, you can accidentally stumble upon something you've been searching for a long time or, on the other hand, be convinced in person of an idea you had previously dismissed. We believe that no matter what advancements there are in technology—high-resolution phone cameras, convenient messaging apps, and easy-to-arrange video calls—nothing in our industry can fully replace face-to-face meetings, the chance to handle a fabric in person and a have a direct conversation about it.

Our days in Milan are always intense and packed with work. Calendars are filled with meetings from morning to late afternoon, during which we review thousands of samples, selecting hundreds in the process. It's inspiring, satisfying, and exhausting at the same time; after such a day, your mind is overflowing with knowledge and ideas, making it hard to think about anything other than patterns, textures, and colors.

Only later, when the evening comes, it’s time to set the business part aside; there comes the time for pleasure.

To be honest, I see no point in finishing work early here—considering the outside temperatures (it’s July in Italy!), closing yourself in an air-conditioned hall for a few hours in the middle of the day and waiting there until aperitivo time comes actually sounds like a good plan (or, more accurately, the only way to survive). Only after 6 PM does the city become bearable, and the scorching day turns into a pleasant, long, and warm evening, welcoming everyone outside. It's finally time to enjoy the city, good food, and cold drinks; an opportunity for a little team bonding, sharing impressions about the observed trends, and starting to organize ideas for upcoming seasons (currently FW2025) in our heads.

At this point, we must clearly draw a line and say that we won't reveal anything more about what we saw at Milano Unica itself (let's save the news for when we can show you the results!), but we are eager to share photographic memories of the rest of the trip, our hurried mornings and slow evenings in Milan.

This is our analog postcard, captured on 35mm Kodak film (Ultramax 400) using a Soviet-era camera (Zenit 12XP), featuring Tomek as the main character and Mateusz behind the lens.

Enjoy!

Starting in order—our breakfast on the first day. Eaten on the run, Italian style: espresso (a doppio here) at the counter and a cream-filled pistachio croissant, called brioche, not cornetto, in the north.

(Apparently, Milanese are aware they use the word ‘brioche’ incorrectly—but tradition is tradition, and bad habits are hard to change.)

Down to the metro and off we go—in the morning, it’s still bearable to wear a tie and long socks… as long as the air conditioning works on the train.

One of the few photos from inside the trade halls—a portrait over the swatch books, keeping what Tomek was looking at off the frame.

Let's focus on the city instead—Milan, like most Italian cities, has a lot to offer. World-class monuments are around every corner: the church housing Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper" can be stumbled upon on the way back to the hotel, and a randomly encountered gate can look like a great backdrop for a proper photo shoot or a movie.

What else, besides architecture and art, is unique about Milan?

It's worth mentioning the phenomenal tradition of aperitivo, eagerly embraced by tourists and locals alike. After work, before dinner, crowds fill the bars; the glasses on tables are accompanied by small plates of snacks. It's a perfect occasion for socializing, having a chat in a relaxed atmosphere, clearing your head after a long day.

Around this time, it's still hot outside; a reduced appetite doesn’t favor early dinners (here, mealtime is closer to 9 PM). For now, olives, chips, and tiny sandwiches are enough. The food that comes with drinks helps not so much to satisfy initial hunger but to whet the appetite for later.

Oh, note that today, in the post-Covid and supposedly "crisis" times, the size of the portions is back to traditional. Just a few years ago, aperitivo in some bars dangerously approached an “all you can eat” buffet formula, where you could fill up successfully (though not necessarily well) having to pay only for a drink.

On the second evening, we opted for a beer aperitivo, having a glass of a legend among local craft beers: Tipopils. Its 1996 premiere marked the beginning of the beer revolution in Italy; tthe beer became the blueprint for a new style known today as Italian Pils (although the brewery prefers to classify it as a “timeless pils”).

Well, Italy may not be widely associated with beer, but you can find such gems here; even beyond the trade fair, surprises await.

Back to stereotypically Italian things: a Fiat 500 stopping by Milano Centrale, the largest train station building in Europe… with some caution tape in the background.

Metro once again—this time the M3 line, known as the “yellow line,” built in time for the 1990 World Cup. If you like postmodernism, we highly recommend having a ride—the design of the platforms and station corridors on this line is just amazing!

By complete chance, Tomek fit in perfectly here—the intense yellow and pale green are the dominant colors of the surroundings, spiced up with a bit of red, which happened to be missing from his outfit.

Probably the most touristy place—Piazza Duomo surroundings—just after sunset. This city can be spectacular; we understand why the people come here.

Another day, another portion of monuments—here, buildings from a few centuries ago lurking behind the hotel window surprise no one. You quickly get used to it.

It also shouldn’t be a surprise that our breakfast diet stayed the same—only the ‘brioche’ filling and coffee size varied.

Another day brought another series of meetings—and after them, a couple of hours for a last stroll around Milan.

We ended this afternoon in a unique place: Bar Basso.

Unfortunately, we were too early to catch the illuminated neon, which lights up the area with a warm red hue every evening… but we made it just in time for (early) aperitivo, the last one of this trip.

You need to know that this is no ordinary bar; it's a place where you step into a time capsule. The old-fashioned interiors are patrolled by waiters in white shirts, black vests, and ties, the furniture is older than the patrons, and the history is painted on the walls—in the form of living relics (like the coin-operated phone) and numerous press clippings from half a century ago.

It is known for being the first place in Milan to open up the aperitivo tradition to “ordinary people” in the post-war era, making it a more egalitarian form of spending time as previously this custom was reserved for exclusive hotel lobbies and their posh bars. Bar Basso has operated continuously in the same location since 1947, still largely serving residents of the nearby neighborhood.

A small revolution happened two decades after the opening, in 1967, when Mirko Stocchetto took over the bar. This Venetian bartender, trained at the world-famous Harry’s Bar, set out to turn this place into a true American-style “cocktail bar”—again earning the title of the “first such” place in Milan. Until then, wine, vermouths, and bitters were mainly served here; Mirko and his team focused on a wide range of cocktails (served in unique glassware made expressly in Venice), capable of satisfying every palate. Well, the mission definitely succeeded—the bar has been in the hands of the Stocchetto family for almost 60 years and still thrives.

Today, there may be five hundred cocktails on the menu, but one is particularly important—being here, you can't miss the negroni sbagliato, the “mistaken” negroni.

Legend has it that Mirko Stocchetto accidentally “invented” this drink here, grabbing a bottle of prosecco (instead of gin) while making the Italian classic—but another version of the story is presented nowadays by his son, Maurizio, who claims that the cocktail, though mistaken in name, was actually created on purpose, as a lighter, less alcoholic alternative to negroni.

Either way, it's a must-try—and in our opinion, Bar Basso’s negroni sbagliato not only tastes good but also looks the part. To this day, it is served in spectacular, oversized tall glasses, with a large amount of hand-carved, bigger-than-usual ice cubes.

The end: just a tiring journey to the airport, a delayed flight home, and a not-so-painful return to reality.

And that's it—although we spent less than three days in Milan, the next few months will revolve around the samples and swatches we ordered there. And in February, it will all be repeated with another edition of Milano Unica, this time dedicated to the spring-summer 2026 collection.

See you!

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