Todd Snyder is returning to the runway. But it’s not going to be during New York Fashion Week — instead, it’ll be in Florence during Pitti Uomo.

Snyder will be spotlighted in what Pitti Immagine Uomo organizers are calling a “designer showcase” on the opening night of the show.

Snyder will present his menswear collection on Jan. 9 at 5 p.m. local time at the Stazione Leopolda. Pitti runs from Jan. 9 to 12 at the Fortezza da Basso in Florence.

Pitti said it selected Snyder to be highlighted because he is “considered by industry insiders as one of the most influential American menswear designers of his generation.” Snyder follows other top American designers and brands who have been featured at Pitti in the past including Thom Browne in 2009, Brooks Brothers in 2018 and Telfar in 2020.

For Snyder, who has spent his career in menswear and attends Pitti Uomo every season, this is the culmination of a dream.

“Pitti is the beginning of the menswear cycle and I go every year,” he said. “The entire menswear community is there, so to show at Pitti is an honor and a dream.”

But the deal was a long time coming. Snyder began to think about it several years ago and he started to have conversations with Raffaello Napoleone, chief executive officer of Pitti Immagine, about a year ago, which led to the deal to have Snyder show at the 105th edition of the show in January. Already, Pitti has said that Bologna, Italy-based Luca Magliano will be the guest designer and the British brand S.S. Daley will also be featured.

Snyder, who founded his brand in 2011, held his last show four years ago. For many seasons, he was one of the only menswear designers to show in New York, but once he made the decision to stop wholesaling his collection to concentrate on his direct-to-consumer efforts, it didn’t make financial sense to continue runway shows.

Snyder, whose business will surpass $100 million in sales this year, currently operates 15 stores around the U.S. with two others slated to open in the spring. Within these stores, Snyder said, are third-party brands that complement his collection and that’s the reason he continued to attend Pitti, to discover the right partners for his store.

Now he has his sights set on reentering the wholesale market and expanding internationally. Early on in the brand’s life, Snyder had a successful business in Japan where he operated stand-alone stores. But in 2015, his company was acquired by American Eagle Outfitters for $11 million and by the next year, the decision was made to focus on the U.S. and close the Japanese stores.

He said he anticipates that showing at Pitti can help jump-start the plan to start wholesaling again. “We ship internationally, but from the U.S.,” he said. “We’ll be looking to open [accounts] but we want to start in a small way — slow and surgical — and with the right partners.”

He said the first step will probably be to add European retailers, both brick-and-mortar and e-commerce-only accounts. “Europe to me is the building block to global growth. It’s scary, but it’s exciting, too.”

He said he has the full support of Jay Schottenstein, the CEO of American Eagle, who was the primary catalyst for his company’s purchase of the Todd Snyder brand. Schottenstein attends Pitti himself with a team every year. Snyder now reports directly to Schottenstein.

Snyder’s participation at Pitti is also key to the trade show, which has been working to recover its full strength since the pandemic forced it to go digital.

According to Napoleone: “I met Todd Snyder in New York about a year ago, and during that long and pleasant conversation we both spontaneously agreed that it would be perfect for him to make his long-awaited return to the catwalk at our international men’s fashion and lifestyle event. This project is also Pitti’s recognition of a long and brilliant career, characterized by the ability to constantly renew [himself] in tune with the spirit of the time, remaining faithful to an idea of modern elegance welded to the values of sustainability.”

He added that by scheduling Snyder to show on the first day, it “opens the calendar of events of an edition that we have built to be strong, dynamic and full of inspirations for the entire sector, inside the Fortezza and in the city.”