Gildo Zegna: responding to the challenges of evolving masculinity
The head of the menswear brand says family ties provide stability in difficult times
In the foothills of the Italian Alps, where rhododendrons bloom in May, a steam funnel towers over the landscape with the words Lanificio Zegna emblazoned on it.
The funnel marks the location of both the wool mill and the home of the fourth generation of the Zegna family textile business, which owns the world’s largest luxury menswear brand, Ermenegildo Zegna.
For Gildo Zegna, chief executive of Ermenegildo Zegna, family ties provide stability in trying times. “It gives you strength coming back to the family in a moment of great disruption,” says Mr Zegna, 64. He will meet 30 other members of the dynasty at the family villa for Christmas as they do every year, a gathering that is both a celebration and an annual shareholder meeting.
Mr Zegna, who takes ultimate responsibility for decisions, says the family reunion is about listening to views and then translating the listening into action. “The vision has to be clear and then the challenge is how do you get there and how quickly and what resources do you need to get there.”
Mr Zegna’s salute to family-owned businesses comes as the luxury goods industry is feeling the heat of technological disruption, social upheaval and identity politics. Furthermore, within the high end fashion industry few items of clothing are facing more pressure from falling consumer demand than the one that made the Zegna family rich: the traditional men’s suit. “The big challenge we face is a rethinking of masculinity,” he says.
Mr Zegna became sole CEO in 2006, having joined the group in the 1980s after an economics degree in London and a stint as an assistant buyer at Bloomingdale's in New York. Under his leadership, group sales have risen to €1.2bn.
When we meet, Mr Zegna’s attire provides some insight into how Zegna is responding to changing male dress codes and the suit’s decline in popularity in a more gender-nuanced world.
He is wearing a lightweight cashmere blazer which, he explains as he takes it off and turns it inside out, is unlined, making it easier to wear while travelling. It looks like a chic, more expensive cousin of the cardigan. A decade ago he would have been wearing a three-piece suit.
The company is vertically integrated — from sheep to store. This kind of product innovation has been a mainstay since it was founded by his grandfather in 1910. It allows the group to continually refine its products. But in an age when social media is driving luxury consumption, product innovation is no longer enough, he admits.
“Italians are in love with what they make with their hands and sometimes they have a hard time to explain to the world why they are so unique,” he says.
Zegna, like other luxury goods companies, is having to rewrite its strategy to appeal to Gen X and Gen Z consumers whose tastes and expectations are different. A survey undertaken for Zegna by Kantar revealed that about half of the 3,000 men interviewed globally felt “under pressure to conform to a masculine ideal”. This fed into a recent Zegna advertising campaign which featured US actor Mahershala Ali from the film Moonlight asking: “What does it mean to be a man today?”
“Women liked it very much,” Mr Zegna says of the response to the campaign on social media. I ask if that was the intention. “We are looking at a more feminine side of men, but we are not starting a women’s line. That said, we wish we could see more women buying in our Zegna stores,” he answers.
His hope isn’t without foundation. The management consultancy Bain & Co says one of the key growth categories for menswear is women buying and wearing men’s clothes as part of a trend of more gender fluid dressing. Consumers are increasingly refusing to be pigeonholed by big brands.
Nonetheless, according to Bain, the main driver of growth in luxury nowadays isn’t gender but geography: Asian customers (mainly Chinese) drove much of the growth in luxury fashionin 2019. “You have to be very, very flexible. Being in luxury today is very much related to how a brand can follow the desires and wishes of the Chinese customers,” says Mr Zegna, who opened the group’s first boutique in China in 1991 in Beijing. It now has 62 stores in China. He argues the most important thing is to have a strong retail presence in China and also to open stores in the countries and cities where the Chinese go on holiday.
Mr Zegna is also doubling down on the family’s roots as a textile manufacturer. The company has bought several top end manufacturers of technical fabrics and leather goods as a hedge against the looming scarcity of quality raw materials (due to climate change) and skilled artisans (due to demography). It also means Zegna is able to personalise its entire menswear range, which is very popular with customers.
In a move attract millennial consumers, Zegna last summer paid nearly €500m to acquire US luxury label Thom Browne, a designer of shrunken-look suits. It is popular with Asian shoppers.
“We want to be in control of our destiny and for that the best defence is to attack,” he says. He is keenly aware of the need to respond to the increasing velocity of the luxury market. “Once you define your strategy you need to do it quickly and do it extremely well because details matter a lot. The difference between brands’ [success] is speed and execution,” he says.
He says the family has no interest in going public. Instead, it is welcoming the next generation. Edoardo Zegna, Mr Zegna’s son, returned to the family company three years ago to lead innovation and content, after a stint as head of product at US online clothing brand Everlane. Mr Zegna says his son has brought an understanding about consumers’ demand for “traceability, service and speed”, which will help the company to innovate and prosper in tough times.
“This is the cultural strength of Italy. This is what keeps Italy going. In the end it is about roots and it is about family roots. It is about respect for what has been created in the past,” Mr Zegna says.