Bonomi: in Zegna there is true vertical integration
Bonomi has also been struck by the strategies of recent years orchestrated by Gildo Zegna: unlike other Italian companies with over a billion in unlisted revenues (Armani, Otb, Max Mara group), Zegna was born over a hundred years ago as a textile company and has evolved into a textile-clothing group with an almost exclusive specialization in the men’s part (the group recently sold the women’s cashmere clothing and accessories brand Agnona). “There are many who declare vertical integration as a goal, few who really succeed in doing it. Zegna is one of these and with the acquisition of excellent realities of the upstream part of the textile supply chain it achieves a double objective: on the one hand it safeguards the Italian supply chain, a very precious heritage without which all global luxury would not exist. On the other hand, it protects itself from external shocks, such as the one we are experiencing linked to raw materials ».
The unknowns of 2022 and the commodity risk
Gildo Zegna obviously confirms that every type of raw material necessary for the textile-fashion supply chain, like any other, has undergone enormous increases, but he explains how the group’s structure mitigates external fluctuations, which in many other companies instead they are inevitably suffered. “There are tensions on prices and many companies have already been forced to increase the price lists of final products, others will. We have one advantage: a century of experience in sourcing practices and the construction and maintenance of stocks of the raw materials we need – explains Zegna -. Then, of course, we will see what will happen in the medium term, but in the short term we are reasonably calm and I can say with great pride that in 2022 we will start hiring again in many sectors of the group ».
The perception of the country and its companies
On another point, Zegna and Bonomi fully agree: the extremely positive moment of Italy’s image abroad, as confirmed by the recent articles published in theEconomist (which defined Italy as the country of the year) a Financial Times, passing through the austere and never tender with Italy Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. “The merit is above all of Prime Minister Mario Draghi – Zegna and Bonomi say almost in unison -. Not that Italy was not a country extraordinarily rich in talent, energy and individual excellence. The problem was the perception of the overall picture and of the political one in particular, which has now drastically changed“. On Zegna, for Bonomi there is a further point: «In a year like 2021 it takes courage to go public, to give oneself a new structure, to embrace the unknowns of unprecedented roads. Americans know and recognize the courage of individuals and companies, and I believe it is also for this reason that, since the announcement, the interest of investors has constantly grown and that during the approximately 90 roadshows in recent months we have found a very attentive audience. and very involved in the project ».
The expansion of the investor base
In just under five months, 761 million dollars were raised and the number of investors was expanded (see Il Sole 24 Ore of 7 December) due to the interest aroused during the 90 stages (virtual, due to pandemic) of the road show , which was attended, in addition to Gildo Zegna, by Alessandro Sartori, creative director of the group, and the American Thom Browne, founder and stylist of the brand that bears his name, acquired by Zegna in 1998 and which in the first half of 2021 had more which doubled the turnover, exceeding 146 million euros (in the same period the whole group grew by 49.49% on 2020 to 603.3 million).
The challenges for the future
According to Zegna, the pandemic and the change in work habits (more teleworking, fewer business trips, fewer events and more or less formal meetings) have only accelerated a trend that, both in men’s fashion and, at least in part, in fashion feminine, had been in existence for some time. “Exactly 40 years ago I was in New York because the company had entrusted me with the task of following and developing the American market. There was even an advertising campaign where I was a “testimonial”, an “ambassador” of my own brand – recalls Gildo Zegna -. In those photos, of course, I was wearing a suit and tie and for a long time I continued to do so. A real revolution has been underway for ten years: the formal remains so for the quality of the materials and workmanship, but the style, the silhouettes, the combinations of materials have changed. We have personally embraced this change and made a change in the style of the collections, also thanks to Alessandro Sartori“. The group has no intention of abandoning all the tailor-made and personalization parts, on the contrary. But every item of clothing and accessory is designed to be worn with more ease, comfort and multiplicity of uses, from sneakers to jacket-shirts, from backpacks to sweaters. «The textile research capacity within the group in this process has given us a great advantage – concludes Zegna -. From the outside we can perceive this “natural evolution” of a company and of two sectors, textiles and fashion, which are innovative by nature, vocation, but also, in our case, by will and courage ».