“We have been rethinking and questioning everything with a new spirit. We have the mindset of a startup,” said Gildo Zegna, chief executive officer of the Ermenegildo Zegna Group.
His family’s company marks its 110th anniversary this year, but as the world is turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic and everything is put into question, the executive easily slips into talking about the future of the group, the opportunities and the challenges this new landscape presents, and the steps taken during the lockdown to ensure that all the ducks are in a row.
Zegna meets with WWD at the family’s Hotel Bucaneve in Bielmonte, a 90-minute drive from Milan, and part of the Oasi Zegna, which was created starting in the Thirties by the executive’s grandfather, Ermenegildo Zegna, founder of the namesake luxury menswear group.
Surrounded by rhododendrons and half a million pine trees planted by Ermenegildo Zegna, with views of the Alps, Bucaneve is perched 5,000 feet above the sea overlooking the Po Valley and 20 minutes away from the company’s sprawling headquarters in Trivero.
Watch on FN
“The anniversary couldn’t have happened in a worse year, shaken by momentous changes. We have been taking stock of the situation, reviewing past, present and future, focusing on things that count, rethinking priorities and working on projects for the next five years,” Zegna said.
This story was reported by WWD and originally appeared on WWD.com. To read the full story, please go to WWD.com.
