Gildo Zegna aims at 2 billion euros

Gildo Zegna’s goal is «to go from a luxury brand to a luxury group», aiming at 2 billion euros by 2025. «I should point out, 2 billion euros excluding Tom Ford», the chairman and ceo explained. The piedmont-based group, which is listed on the New York stock exchange, closed the last fiscal year with about 1.5 billion euros in revenues (+15.5%) and 65.3 million euros in profit. «The closing is expected to take place within a few weeks. After that, we will take over the fashion part and we are going to work on that for the next 30 years».

What will Tom Ford’s entry into the group entail?

The supply chain will grow because of it, we are increasing production just to be ready. Now, the focus is to integrate the brand and do well as we did with Thom Browne.

Are you planning to bring Thom Browne’s fashion shows to Milan?

I do not want to make prediction, but Milan is one of the fashion capitals, so something will happen, sooner or later.

You were among the first to return to China, in january. What scenario do you see?

China is off to another great start. After Hong Kong and Macau in january, in february I went back to Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Chengdu, and I will soon travel to Beijing. Traffic is up and approaching 2021 levels again, which had been a very good year. We are bringing back what we lost due to closures in the second and fourth quarters of last year.

India has also been mentioned these days regarding your partner Mukesh Ambani. What plans do you have for this market?

We were among the first to believe in India and the very first luxury brands to directly operate in the subcontinent back in 1999. We created a joint venture with the Ambani family and we have two boutiques. By the end of the year we will open a third one in Mumbai.

Which countries are driving growth?

In the UAE we keep revising the forecast upward, resembling China a few years ago. We also have a series of projects in the pipeline in Saudi Arabia. These Middle East markets are definitely the new frontier. We are boosting the Southeast Asian region because we do not have appropriate density for our brand and we are investing to become more and more significant. South Korea and Japan are also areas that we can still develop.

How are the established markets performing?

In Europe, we hope that tourism will continue to play its part as it did last year, because it has been a while since we have seen such attractive numbers both from foreign customers and locals. Our rebranding is being very successful. As for the US, it will be hard to do better after last year, so we have a really solid comparison base.

Are you considering supply chain acquisitions?

We are always looking around and many proposals come to our table, but first we need to strengthen what we already have. We really want to attract Italian talent. There are too many good ones in companies that are no longer Italian, so we want to bring them back home. We will do our small part by implementing on one hand Made in Italy productions and on the other hand by trying to hire at least 300 people over the next three years. It is a brave choice, but one in which we believe very much.

What are the expectations for 2023?

The framework is very positive. We remain optimistic. If well begun is half done, I have to say that I cannot remember a first quarter like this in a long time. So far so good. We are ready as well to seize the opportunities that will arise in the coming months. (all rights reserved)