Milano Home Exhibition announces second edition. A high-profile meeting point between quality italian products and the shops of the future.
The B2B exhibition for the furnishing accessories, textiles and homeware sector returns from 23 to 26 January 2025. A place to find inspiration and way to grow both supply and demand.
The second edition of Milano Home, an exhibition born from the partnership between Fiera Milano and GEFI, will begin on 23 January 2025, having made its debut at the Rho exhibition centre in 2024. Milano Home has emerged as a new benchmark for the B2B home sector, catering to both traditional and emerging retailers, regardless of size, as well as professionals within the industry – including Interior decorators, designers, and architects – looking to diversify their offerings with distinctive and unique products.
Many companies have confirmed their return, with plenty of newcomers also set to join, placing their faith in the Milano Home initiative as a catalyst for growth and a key way to start relationships with the broad specialist retail network.
Philosophy and Objectives
Milano Home, whose name directly references the capital of Italian design, a cosmopolitan city where new trends are born, is much more than an annual exhibition. It is an event on a human scale that celebrates expertise by meticulously selecting businesses and helping them to engage with Italian and international buyers on the lookout for innovative, creative, and sustainable products.
Focus on the Specialist Retailer
The central focus of the exhibition is the specialist retailer, which is distinguished by its professionalism and expertise, serving as a premier platform for promoting brands and products. Physical stores remain a crucial touchpoint for the end consumer, acting as a hub for all participants in the supply chain, including manufacturers, distributors, artisans, and designers, while also playing a pivotal role in engaging with the local area.
The role of retailers extends beyond bringing brands and products into consumers’ homes and reflecting the evolution of values, tastes, and trends; they also serve as a vital component in preserving the social fabric of cities and small towns, fostering productive collaborations between entities from various sectors and society at large.
Just look at the numbers: according to estimates by Milano Home (source: Hoover 2022), in Italy alone there are at least 38,000 sales outlets dealing in at least one of the home decoration product categories, with a total of 100,000 employees and over €16 billion in sales. The store is therefore a crucial hub in which Milano Home has chosen to invest time and expertise, aiming to bolster its status through dialogue, training programmes, cultural events, and innovative communication formats.
However, the choice to engage with the retail sector, especially independent outlets, by no means detracts from Milano Home’s focus on other significant visitor groups that are integral to the exhibition experience: interior designers, small-scale guest accommodation facilities, and the promotional sector.
Exhibition Overview 2025
The centrepiece of the 2025 exhibition will not only be the products – ranging from perfumes to tableware, and from decorative items to conceptual gifts – but also the talents and entrepreneurial journeys of those who embody the core values of the Milano Home ethos: originality, authenticity, quality, and innovation.
A comprehensive showcase of homewares will be presented, and the exhibition will serve as a platform where innovation and inspiration, trends and timeless classics all come together. For businesses, it is a venue where they can strengthen or establish their distribution networks, while for buyers, it presents the chance to uncover new entrants and products that stand out for design and innovation, sustainability and distinctiveness.
Milano Home seeks to honour the expertise of its many participating companies, ranging from the most renowned, adept at safeguarding their craftsmanship through generations, to the emerging enterprises that are carving out new niches and imaginatively reflecting the currents of contemporary style.
This body of expertise is thus transformed into a shared resource and converted into real value by bringing it to market, forging an indispensable link between production and consumer.
Exhibition Layout
The exhibition layout will be organised into four thematic zones, enabling attendees to quickly and easily organise their prospecting: Vibes will present fragrances, multi-sensory experiences, textiles and objects; Elements will showcase excellence in the field of porcelain, silver, crystal and glass, plus leading craft exponents, and the most innovative designers and brands; Mood will be dedicated to the world of decoration and concept gifts, the stationery area, Christmas, and gifts and accessories for pets;
Taste will explore kitchenware, tableware and homewares for socialising; it also houses the special Brand Power area, dedicated to the promotional world and the reward system of industry and retail.
Meetings and Training
The exhibition will be complemented by training sessions focusing on crucial topics for the sector. Milano Home 2025 will also continue to offer special focus and event spaces that proved to be highly successful in the inaugural edition.
The initiative offered by Milano Home, dubbed Meet&Coffee, helps to bring together supply and demand through a speed-dating format designed for producers, distributors and buyers. At the last edition – which was attended by 611 exhibitors – over 300 buyers from 80 countries participated in these events.
Moreover, each pavilion will provide buyers and operators with areas dedicated to content and opportunities for skill enhancement. These include the Retail Academy, a hands-on training programme tailored for retail businesses, as well as various events hosted by exhibitors, and Design Talk events and networking opportunities with architects and interior designers.
The comprehensive programme of events, currently in development, will centre around the themes of sustainability, high-quality materials, and product excellence.
Road Show and Focus Group
The Milano Home project also takes form in the run-up to the event, through numerous initiatives and a series of engagements across the country and beyond. The objective is to establish guidelines for the future of local shops and to create an event that showcases entities that are driving the evolution of the industry.
Since late May this year, a roadshow has been bringing the Milano Home teams to various regions across Italy and selected European cities with the objective of conducting numerous focus groups. This initiative seeks to engage key figures in the specialised retail sector in a dialogue about the industry’s evolution.
The meetings foster open and constructive dialogue among industry stakeholders, presenting a comprehensive insight into local markets and global trends, with a view to offering fresh solutions and ideas to invigorate a constantly evolving market. Topics covered include omnichannel selling, generational transition, in-store traffic, supplier relations and integrating with local areas.
The roadshow, which commenced in Sicily, Puglia, Lombardy and Calabria, is set to extend across various Italian regions in the forthcoming months, including Campania, Abruzzo, Lazio, Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna and Liguria, as well as European cities such as Vienna, Zurich, Munich, Nice and Ljubljana.
Photo Credits: Roberto Lapi
Get ready for Milano Home
Fieramilano (Rho)
23 to 26 January 2025