Alessandro Sartori is a fan of the Formulation One races. He should be—he’s been travelling right here for the Singapore Grand Prix since 2018, taking within the race from the highest of The Fullerton Lodge whereas Zegna holds a by-invite-only trunk present and celebration throughout race weekend. It has develop into a kind of Zegna custom with pals of the model flown in from across the area to revel within the ambiance yearly. You’ll see mannequins wearing Zegna and racks of garments positioned across the suite however nobody is pushing for a sale—a minimum of not on the night of the finals.

I don’t suppose Sartori cares a lot for it too.

It’s not that the inventive director of Zegna isn’t significantly all for heading a worthwhile enterprise; he is aware of that his directional menswear designs promote. They usually do. Zegna Group’s preliminary first-half revenues for 2023 reached greater than EUR900 million, of which Zegna-branded merchandise (Sartori-designed items in addition to licensed merchandise) account for EUR541 million, a 27.3 per cent enhance from the yr earlier than.

Every part that Sartori has been doing level to the year-end financials trying to be simply as promising.

The current trunk present in Singapore was a celebration of Zegna’s traceable Oasi Cashmere assortment and its debut collaboration with Los Angeles-based model The Elder Statesman. “It was very natural. We didn’t suppose to collaborate. [laughs] I met Greg (Chait of The Elder Statesman) via widespread pals. I used to be in love together with his assortment as a result of I like the homemade-handmade aesthetic. He was truly doing issues with a really grandmother high quality, you realize?” Sartori tells me.

Zegna’s experience in cashmere led Chait—who was in Italy to supply for the fabric—to Sartori on the suggestion of a mutual pal. A one-and-a-half-hour espresso assembly later, Sartori invited Chait to go to the model’s headquarters Oasi Zegna, whereas he was invited to go to The Elder Statesman atelier in Los Angeles. They realised that they each share the identical values and determined to speak about collaborating a yr after.

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The Zegna x The Elder Statesman assortment is just not one you’d anticipate from Zegna. It’s a burst of colors in distinction to Zegna underneath Sartori the place using colors is extra keenly calculated and monochromatic in nature. It’s additionally extra tactile within the form of “grandmother high quality” that The Elder Statesman is thought for. However what’s really Zegna is within the stage of workmanship, the luxurious leisurewear aesthetic, and naturally, using Oasi Cashmere all through the gathering.

Sartori says that the objective was to be very exact in what would find yourself on the ultimate line-up. “If we thought that the garment was not good for The Elder Statesman or for Zegna, we edited. And we edited lovely items however the aesthetic was an excessive amount of of this or that, or too unusual,” he explains.

The outcome was a set with every look placing a steadiness between Italian savoir-faire and luxurious coupled with a laid-back Californian vibe.

The truth that that is solely the third big-name collaboration that Zegna has produced makes it an business outlier. Whereas vogue manufacturers massive and small proceed to seemingly churn out buzzy collaborations a minimum of as soon as a season, Zegna launched its first collaboration—an outstanding one at that with Concern of God—solely in 2020. One may say the model was merely late to the sport, however Sartori by no means felt the necessity to sustain.

“I used to be very stunned Zegna collaborated with Concern of God, as a result of it was the first-ever and I all the time felt just like the model didn’t have to go that route,” I inform Sartori.

“You prefer it?”

“I liked it. I attempted to purchase a bit however it was bought out in every single place.”

In keeping with Sartori, he nonetheless receives requests to supply extra of that landmark collaboration. When requested if the success of his first collaboration created strain for him to do extra, Sartori was fast to dismiss it. “I might have performed loads however I don’t wish to. I wish to do what we really feel is true for the model, one thing that has that means and connection to the work we do,” he says. “We don’t do collaborations to become profitable. After all, we’d like them to promote as a result of should you don’t, which means you don’t ship. However they’re made with the aim of connecting totally different communities.”

With Zegna x The Elder Statesman, the concept of bridging totally different communities not solely refers back to the two totally different prospects of each manufacturers, but additionally to amplify the chances of creation utilizing Zegna’s wonderful high quality and traceable cashmere. Oasi Cashmere is considered one of two materials sustainability efforts that Zegna is investing closely on at present—the opposite is Oasi Lino, traceable linen for the hotter months. The fantastic thing about immediately proudly owning numerous Italian material mills permits Zegna to manage the manufacturing of textiles proper from the supply, together with the origins of the uncooked materials itself. “I say this very often recently, ‘Someday, a era will come up the place if a garment isn’t tagged with a digital passport, they received’t purchase it’,” Sartori opines. He likens it to the meals business the place manufacturing particulars are intensive and clear on labels.

Earlier than you deem this as merely Zegna leaping on the sustainability bandwagon that each different vogue model is on, the very foundations of the model is rooted in caring for the atmosphere and neighborhood. It goes again to 1910 with founder Ermenegildo Zegna planting the primary tree within the space surrounding his mill. And about 20 years later, he constructed a 26-kilometre highway to make Oasi Zegna accessible to the area people and hyperlink them to its pure environment, offering a public house for leisure and outside actions amongst nature.

“I’m virtually stunned that Zegna had by no means spoken about Oasi Zegna earlier than,” Sartori expresses. “We thought it was a mistake and one thing we would have liked to speak as a result of it’s the trustworthy and genuine imaginative and prescient of the corporate.”

It’s one of many uncommon situations in our interview that Sartori agrees that if there’s one thing the model must be “louder” about, this may be it.

On Sartori’s half, it had already been a guideline for his designs. He sees sustainability as greater than merely utilizing recycled supplies—Zegna continues to take action with its #UseTheExisting fabrications constituted of recycled sources—or one-off capsule collections. To Sartori, it’s a mindset that goes right down to the very make of a garment. He cites the instance of the very fundamentals of tailoring: high quality building made to final. From the stitchings of the shoulders to how a buttonhole is made, all the pieces needs to be constructed with the concept it ought to final for a really very long time.

“If I designed a jacket that after three years doesn’t maintain collectively and breaks throughout journey, I wouldn’t have performed my job. The objective is so that you can put on a jacket that after 15 years might need a little bit gap, however stays fully wearable. That’s my dream,” he says.

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Sartori calls this “designing for sustainability”, the place there must be some foresight in developing a garment in ways in which would enable it to final, in addition to have the potential of being recycled. A jacket constructed with a number of fusing, as an example, wouldn’t be recyclable as a result of disassembling it’s close to unimaginable.

Whereas seasonality remains to be obvious in Zegna’s collections, Sartori doesn’t design particular to every season. The collections have been streamlined such that concepts transcend seasons, however nonetheless rooted in a selected aesthetic that he’s crafted to be Zegna’s model of recent tailoring. It’s unabashedly louche and relaxed with foundational components consisting of knitwear, the overshirt, the chore jacket, the signature Triple Sew sneakers, voluminous trousers and the like. The look has been constant for the reason that Autumn/Winter 2021 assortment as a part of an evolution that was already within the works however accelerated by Covid.

Within the consistency lies timelessness. You wouldn’t simply half methods with a Zegna piece from one season; there’s seamless integration between items from totally different seasons. Let’s face it, a Zegna piece is an funding that you simply’d wish to maintain on to and put on for so long as attainable anyway. And Sartori continues to make that simpler.

So sure, Sartori could also be a fan of the Formulation One races. The velocity and the sounds (he’s unfazed by the zooming of vehicles under us, audible in the direction of the tip of our interview) might thrill him. However at his core, he’s not one to condone useless velocity, however a nonetheless, calm drive that pushes forward with intention.

This text was first seen on ESQUIRE Singapore’s October 2023 Difficulty. 

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