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BEFORE
it celebrates its centennial in 2010, Italian menswear
giant Ermenegildo Zegna has set its sharp sights on
maintaining an average annual-revenue increase of at
least 10 percent, hoping to reach €1 billion in sales in
the process. How the Philippines as one of its emerging
markets will figure in this goal remains a confounding
and beautiful question.
Last
year, when the company appointed Gildo Zegna as sole
CEO, with his cousin Paolo as chairman, it had been
undergoing internal restructuring with a threefold
purpose, according to the trade paper Defining Men’s
Fashion: “To better respond to industry demands, to
increase the speed in which it gets merchandise to
market, and to make sure that each merchandise is right
for each market.”
Apparently, the luxury label that has dressed Matt
LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer is confident
that the sophisticated Filipino male is worth catering
to, and that the Philippine market needs the company’s
attention, too.
“There
is lots of expansion in
Asia,” says the
impeccably suited Alessandro Raniolo. (“Trofeo silk
fabric from last season,” he offers with a smile.)
Though market share is 37 percent in Europe and the
Middle East, 31 percent in Australasia and 29 percent in
North America, merchandise is evenly distributed among
the regions.
In its
“Great Minds Think Alike” spring ad campaign, gray is
the dominant color of the collections, but “there are
splashes of color every season. We have a strong
direction, a total look for each season with a certain
amount of flexibility. We have fabric for the tropical
climate for the short sleeves and linen shirts,” Raniolo
reveals at the brand’s store in Rustan’s Makati, opened
by its local partner Store Specialists Inc.
The
newly refurbished and expanded 88-sq-m, Studio
Beretta-designed store carries the Ermenegildo Zegna
Couture line (“refined elegance befitting a wardrobe of
extreme luxury”), the Upper Casual collection (leisure
and casual wardrobe), Zegna Sport and Z Zegna, a younger
label designed by Alessandro Sartori. Under each are
ties (P9,500), linen shirts (P12,000), suits (P138,000),
shoes (P25,000 to P33,000) and belts (P11,000 to
P15,000). There are also small leathergoods, bags and
fragrances.
“Zegna
continues to be innovative, constantly changing and
evolving,” Raniolo says, as he excitedly shows an
“Elements” wool jacket (P132,000), “the first
intelligent garment that autonomously adapts to regulate
body temperature in all weather conditions. He cites it
as an outdoor clothing that can be worn in warm, as well
as cool areas. It is also water-resistant and can be
used as a raincoat.
The
charming Raniolo stresses that Zegna is a brand that is
classic, Italian and masculine, using exclusive fabric
that it develops especially. “I cannot use the word
‘trendy’ to describe it. I cannot even say that Z Zegna
is trendy. It’s a fashion brand. Trendy is
inappropriate. We don’t aspire to be trendy. We want to
be ahead, like what Z Zegna is doing.”
Like
Fendi, Versace and Ferragamo, Zegna was built on strong
family values that are inherent in Italians. Founded by
Ermenegildo in 1910 as a wool mill in the little town of
Trivero in the Biella Alps outside Milan, the company
decided to make made-to-measure clothes in the mid-’60s
when his sons Aldo and Angelo took over. (Gildo is
Angelo’s son, while Paolo is Aldo’s.)
Will
this “devotion to style and aesthetic harmony” only
benefit—unfairly—the male of the specie? “I will have to
ask our CEO,” Raniolo quips, letting out a laugh. “In my
view, menswear is what we know best. We stick to it,
rather than expand.”
In an
interview with the Financial Times a few years back,
Gildo Zegna explains why the company resists the
temptation to open a women’s line. He said that menswear
is less competitive and the joy in the men’s market is
that it is constant: “[Men] are very loyal. Women like
to shop around more.”
What I
resisted asking was if the Zegna tie that Monica
Lewinsky gave to then-President Clinton as a gift is
still being offered at the stores, and if so, is it a
bestseller? Instead, Raniolo brandished the
Montenapoleone 27 tie as supposedly the iconic tie of
the season. “Many people don’t wear ties anymore. This
is a great tie to wear to make a difference,” says the
College D’Europe (Belgium)
and US Luther College-educated luxury-goods expert.
And
celebrity addict that I am, I managed to squeeze in a
question: Why was Adrien Brody retired as Zegna’s image
model? “Our ad campaign came before he won the Oscar [as
Best Actor in Roman Polanski’s The Pianist”. It
hit at the same time as the Oscars. It gave the brand
recall and more people began to take notice of it,”
Raniolo shares. “But it is not a core strategy of the
brand to use a celebrity. We use models who best typify
the core values of the brand, to focus on the quality
and heritage of the product.” |
