{"id":1644171,"date":"2026-05-06T13:52:36","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T17:52:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/observer.com\/?p=1644171"},"modified":"2026-05-07T21:11:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T01:11:15","slug":"ermenegildo-zegna-italian-luxury-heritage-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/observer.com\/2026\/05\/ermenegildo-zegna-italian-luxury-heritage-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"Gildo Zegna on Leading an NYSE-Listed Family Business With Patience and Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Gildo Zegna\u2019s vision blends tradition with modernity, guided by the idea that true luxury reveals itself over time. ANDREAS SOLARO\/AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last Friday, Ermenegildo Zegna Group, the parent company of Zegna and Thom Browne, and operator of Tom Ford\u2019s fashion business, reported first-quarter earnings results. It was the first fiscal quarter without Ermenegildo \u201cGildo\u201d Zegna, the third-generation leader of the family business, in the CEO seat. Revenue grew steadily overall, but the Middle East saw a double-digit decline amid the ongoing conflict in Iran<\/a>. The company\u2019s new CEO, Gianluca Tagliabue, was candid with analysts: April continued the negative trend, and \u201cwe are still with a big question mark\u201d about how the region will develop in the coming months.<\/p>\n

Tagliabue, who spent a decade as Zegna\u2019s CFO and COO, was appointed to fill the large shoes left by Mr. Zegna, who led the company as CEO for more than 20 years and now serves as executive chairman. As part of that transition, he also named his sons, Edoardo and Angelo Zegna, co-CEOs of the Zegna brand.<\/p>\n

A few days before the earnings report, Mr. Zegna was asked about the Middle East at a business event in Washington D.C. He reiterated his patience and long-term vision, saying he believed the region \u201cwill come back,\u201d while emphasizing the company\u2019s continued strength in the U.S. and untapped markets such as Japan and Korea. “Be true to your values, and stay the course,” he summed up his leadership principle to an audience.<\/p>\n

Mr. Zegna, who turned 70 last September, shares the name of his grandfather, who founded the family business in 1910 as a wool mill in northern Italy. He takes particular pride in the company\u2019s deep historic roots and vertically integrated supply chain, meaning it owns every step of production, from raw textile to finished garments to retail.<\/p>\n

Yet, quarterly scrutiny from U.S. public markets is a relatively new experience for a century-old Italian family business. While luxury conglomerates like LVMH and Kering are publicly traded in Europe, Zegna is the only major European luxury group listed in the U.S. With a market cap of $3.25 billion, Mr. Zegna humbly calls his company \u201ca grain in the sand\u201d among those on the New York Stock Exchange, while also viewing the listing as putting the family business \u201cin the championship league,\u201d he told Observer.<\/p>\n

Mr. Zegna said the idea of going public had surfaced often among family members. Most of the time, the answer was no. That changed during COVID, when luxury spending surged alongside a wave of SPAC IPOs<\/a>. Zegna received an investment offer from Andrea Bonomi, a major dealmaker in Italian and European private equity, and went public in December 2021 through a SPAC created by Bonomi, Investindustrial Acquisition Corp, chaired by UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti. The Zegna family retained a controlling stake of nearly 66 percent in the merged company to ensure it continues to make major decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking back, [going public] has improved stability and given us a different sense of scale,\u201d Mr. Zegna said. \u201cIt was a move to grow up\u2014more disciplined, more scale, more independent\u2014while putting the family in a position to move forward with the new generations. It came naturally for the time we were in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Gildo