The listing on the New York Stock Exchange in collaboration with Investindustrial is the latest stage in a growth process. In which Gildo Zegna (pictured, left) believes and feels confident. But the fourth wave of Coronavirus imposes a moment of calm and concentration on the territories, both in terms of production and distribution. “Let’s forget the rosy forecasts”, the entrepreneur tells L’Economia by Il Corriere della Sera. It is still time to focus on the fundamentals.
The fourth wave effect
“Of course, we all hoped to be towards the end of the pandemic”, acknowledges Gildo Zegna, “but now there is this new, very contagious variant, even if reading the newspapers it seems less dangerous than the previous ones, and we cannot deny our concern”. The market is made up of sensations: Zegna’s CEO is well aware that the fourth wave can only weigh down the public’s mood. “From the US to Italy to the UK, the situation is the same everywhere,” he adds. “We’re stuck with this feeling of lack of freedom again. But if there is one thing that makes me calm, it is that never before have we had the right strategy, that the market is appreciating. I have never had such a strong feeling that we are doing the right things”.
What the market will be like
Zegna has his countermeasure ready: “We have to forget about the rosy forecasts, which we had somehow made, and think about the local in all forms”. In what sense? “Together with Alessandro (artistic director Sartori, pictured, right ed), we prepared in time. This is an incredible transformation: if we think that only two years ago we were looking at foreigners and today we have forgotten about them, while we have to look more closely at the priorities of customers in our own countries”. The local viewpoint is aimed at the customer, but the same applies to the industrial structure: “We need a capillary organisation and control over the production chain”, Zegna concludes, “and I wonder how those who don’t have that can manage all these stop-and-go operations. It is no coincidence that the French are buying up production capacity and doing so in Italy”.
Archive photo
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