Sam Setter's 'Pills': Pitti Uomo in Florence

On 13-16 June the fashion industry celebrated Pitti Uomo in Florence. The event was very well attended and the newspapers, as well as the city hall of Florence, heralded the attendance of so-called VIPs as a huge success. Indeed, people like Leonardo Di Caprio, Dua Lipa, George Clooney were among the visitors. They, like their peers, very modestly flew into Florence in their own or leased private planes in order not to disturb the passengers on commercial flights. They travelled in town in big Mercedes private vans, escorted by other cars and of course police, whose presence diverted them from other duties. All in all, I think that the CO2 emissions caused by these high-profile attendees will not have been more than produced by a hundred commercial flights, but I am not sure if that includes the constant surveillance flights by police helicopters. That’s not all. It’s getting better, or worse. On Wednesday 14th the brand LuisaViaRoma organised a fashion show catwalk at the beautiful Piazzale Michelangelo, overseeing the centre of Florence, expecting 2000 invitees from all over the world. Over a period of 2 weeks a huge scaffolding was constructed closing off the Piazzale for tourists and turning a beautiful cultural site into a mess of steel pipes. The part of the city below the Piazzale was invaded by private security demanding from citizens to identify themselves to enter their own streets. Isn’t that crazy?

Now I am asking myself how it comes that these brands that spend millions to organise these kinds of events, produce in the process unimaginable quantities of extra CO2, generate discomfort to citizens in a free and democratic country, demand from our industry compliance of their sustainability demands, which they themselves totally ignore? Shouldn’t they give the example?