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[grilledcheese]

Originally Posted by Holdfast

I'm not a fan of Zegna's suit silhouette, but I do like their shirts and ties a lot, purely for the patterns.

indeed indeed.

 

[maomao1980]

Originally Posted by lifersfc

I like Zegna shoes...but that's about it. The suits don't do much for me, though the made by Incotex trousers are very nice.

How can I tell if the trousers are made by Incotex?

 

[WestOfPCH]

I think the regular suits are good, the Couture stuff is great. I've only ever bought MTM, and I've always had the suits (even the Roma models) cut a bit differently than their RTW suits.

I think their fabrics are really nice (after all, they are a mill first, a maker of suits second, and a fashion label third). The 15 mil mil 15 suits of mine have a beautiful hand, and I am a huge fan of the micronsphere suits. I know of no other hi-level suit maker with a comparable fabric, and after having rasberry sauce wipe cleanly off a $2.5k suit, I have become quite loyal.

Their shirts are nice too, they fit me great, but I only buy them on sale. There hasn't been a shirt in one of their stores that doesn't become available for 30%-40% off when their sale comes around toward the end of the season.

I think their Zegna sport stuff is nice, but I've never bought any of it because of price -- I wouldn't necessarily call it "over-priced" but it is certainly more than I'm willing to pay right now. If $$$$ was no object, I'd be thrilled to buy their stuff.

And I highly doubt that their MTM suits are machine made in one hour. Baseless rant. Back it up with evidence, please.

 

[xarope]

Originally Posted by WestOfPCH

And I highly doubt that their MTM suits are machine made in one hour. Baseless rant. Back it up with evidence, please.
I'd second this; everytime I go for an MTM (every 6 months or so) I'm measured again to ensure good fit, the suit when it comes is checked and fitted once again, and the pants are measured to be cuffed as necessary, as well as waist measured (just in case I've been too slack in my fitness work

). Those activities at the very least takes a couple of hours, not including tailoring time, for which the zegna shop has a couple of tailors on display hard at work!

 

[A Harris]

I think that description would fit Brioni better than Kiton, no?

Jon.

I have to agree with Labelking. Kiton has become total prestige wear. The quality is there but they get away with selling it for what they do because IMO a LOT of their customers are wearing it only for the label.

And to play devils advocate once again, from what I've seen of recent offerings from Bergdorf and Neimans SF, the quality of mainline Zegna is improving. They are capable of marketing a better garment now than ever before. Re Saks, my personal opinion is that their buying is so bad that I would not judge any line from what I saw of it in that store...

 

[aportnoy]

Originally Posted by A Harris

And to play devils advocate once again, from what I've seen of recent offerings from Bergdorf and Neimans SF, the quality of mainline Zegna is improving. They are capable of marketing a better garment now than ever before. Re Saks, my personal opinion is that their buying is so bad that I would not judge any line from what I saw of it in that store...

I suppose my point ehre is that given the choice between Zegna, Isaia and Belvest, all in same basic price range, I would never chose Zegna.

 

[A Harris]

I would definitely agree with you on that. Perhaps that is why they have been adding extra detailing to their suits - they are worried about being left behind...

 

[johnapril]

Originally Posted by gj555

Source?
A Zegna MTM service rep

 

[johnapril]

Originally Posted by A Harris

Re Saks, my personal opinion is that their buying is so bad that I would not judge any line from what I saw of it in that store...

Who is their customer?

 

[drljva]

Originally Posted by TIEALIGN

I guess I am in the minority on this one. I love my Zegna Napoli Couture suits as well as my everyday OTR tailored Zegna Trofeo suits. When I open my closet I reach for my Navy Pinstripe Zegna Trofeo suit more often than any other suit in my closet including my Kiton or Brioni suits. As for their Zegna sport and poorly constructed Z Zegna suits I will agree they are way over priced but they still make very nice suits IMO. You just have to know the difference between there lines. As for Zegna only being for old people I would still consider myself young at 26.

I have to say that, with regard to Zegna NC suits, I agree completely. My Napoli Couture suits -- while not quite as nice as my Kiton and Brioni suits -- are used by me much more frequently, if only because I find that they travel extremely well. I agree, though, with those that have said that the quality in all of Zegna's stuff has gone down in recent years -- it certainly has (though only marginally so on the NC stuff...).

 

[French Cuff Consignment]

I have been a really huge fan of Zegna for many years, and in large part because of the quality of their fabrics and their craftsmanship. They made the first top tier designer suit that I ever bought, and I loved the fact they their prices weren't exorbitant. I wear suits and jackets six days a week and Zegna's premium stuff has always held up wonderfully in spite of the fact that they always used delicate fabrics. But I have to say, it's been quite disconcerting for me to see them add the Z and the Sport lines to the market. I salute firms that resist the temptation to "sell out" and commercialize their labels, regardless of their areas of specialty. I often think that if the owners still ran the day to day operations, their focus would likely be to elevate the quality of their wares, not to 'water them down' and make them common. Maybe I sound like an elitist but too few firms are trying to produce higher quality lines like RLPL and Zegna's own Couture or Canali's Exclusivo...and then again two of those same firms have 'sweat shop quality stuff going out the back door too. Don't even get me started talking about Armani and Donna Karan. They are washing out their own labels to make even more money that they will never be able to spend, all so that they can eat up the market share of J Crew and the Gap?

 

[Nantucket Red]

Originally Posted by kitonbrioni

I guess I agree with the original post that Zegna pales before many Italian makers in style and quality.

I'll take this as the final word on the matter.

 

[nighttrain7404]

As commercial as they are...I'm very impressed w/their leather products.

The two zegna leather jackets are like non I've ever seen. I've worn/used Hermes jackets and they pale in comparison to the zegna lambskins I own.

They're paper thin, wear like a shirt, and are just exquisite.

It seems it's a struggle for designers to go "commercial" and make mega bucks or keep a certain niche.

If Zegna has "sold out", I'm glad I purchased their product early on when their quality was still great and still made in Italy

 

[WestOfPCH]

Interesting thoughts. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, of course, and I certainly don't own a closet of Isaia, Attolini, or other comparably priced suits with which to compare my Zegna suits.

That said, getting back to the original question of this thread: Is Zegna too commercial? I guess it really depends on what you infer from the question . . . "too commercial so that their quality isn't good enough" or perhaps "too commercial so that they are not as exclusive as they used to be" or perhaps something else that I'm just not catching. In all the cases, it assumed that previously Zegna wasn't any of those which therefore made it better back in those good ol' days.

Everyone seems to agree that the Couture stuff is undeniably nice -- there may be others who make nicer stuff, or some people who prefer a different sillouette, but no one is questioning the quality at the top end. If that is the case, then it doesn't matter to me that the Z Zegna stuff is not as good a quality -- that's why it's under a sub-label and why the stuff costs less, a lot less as a matter of fact.

As for the potential exclusivity issue, it doesn't bug me. If the quality and style is to my liking, I don't care if I'm the only one in the world owns it or if every third guy owns it too.

I think the best analogy is the comparison to cars. We should ask "Is Mercedes-Benz too commercial." No one is going to deny an AMG S63 is an amazing machine; it may not be to your taste, and you may think it is only "really" worth, say 70% of what it will sell for. And you may even think that Mercedes-Benz is totally selling out at the bottom end of the market by selling that C-class coupe with available cloth seats, or the fact that ML's come standard with only "leather seating surfaces" (translation: most of the seat is actually really nice vinyl or something close). For some of us, you will still buy the S63 despite the price premium and the existance of the C-class coupe; many others won't.

God bless America (and Italy and whatever other countries you may be from) that we can make such wonderful choices.

 

[LabelKing]

Interestingly enough, Mercedes-Benz, back when it was still a private rather exclusive German firm, offered a vinyl seating surface called MB-Tex as standard. For leather you had to pay up and even velour was a luxury option. However, this MB-Tex was and still is extremely durable in the vintage cars.