Ermenegildo Zegna vs. Gritti

[Kimball Scarr]

Seriously? Don't you have a corpse to raise?

Lots with Halloween ! Easy as a snap of the figures...

 

[dauster]

This issue of "quality variation" and model of suit of Ermenegildo Zegna "ErmZegna" is more of a figment of imagination than real. The various "Brands" or "Labels" are all equal in quality of design, construction, and manufacture. It is what is called "Total Quality Management" of the entire company. Quality to the customer is suitability for the purpose intended. You can be assured whatever label the suit, jacket, pants, shirt or fabric it is all the same quality from the Company. Human hands which construct the materials and the finished product are no different worldwide, and are guided by the training and standards of performance dictated by the company Total Quality Management - it has for this company never been an issue. They truly give excellent value.

This began for "ErmZegna" in 1967 with the creation of a consumer manufacturing segment... per the company archive-
"1967 Manufacturing
What made the Ermenegildo Zegna Group what it is today was the decision to transform the already excellent Wool Mill in Trivero into a more complex industrial facility specializing in the production of sartorial clothing. It attained high standards of quality in the space of just a few years (1967 - 1972) and gained ground in the luxury market." [Company Archive]

The plan to be achieved that is construct or philosophical outlook from the 1960's "Mad Men Era" which was to manufacture consumer goods, whether made for high end buyers or one time buyers the at a company wide integrated same quality... the "Gritti" business philosophical construct.

The first modern entrepreneur venture was the original segment or base of this was to begin service of the traditional tailored or fitted market which had evolved over hundreds of years from small independent tailor designed and in-house produced suits on order to what is called "creazioni sartorialia", simply meaning "dress style creations of elegance" this business construct was to gain a foothold in a traditional existing marketplace existing at that time. Be that 1910 or 1967 when "ErmZegna" had grown as a mill enough to enter the clothing manufacturing business. By 1972 this established success in that marketplace. The plan to be achieved that is construct or philosophical outlook from the 1960's "Mad Men Era" which was to manufacture consumer goods, whether made for high end buyers or one time buyers the at a company wide integrated same quality.

This "Mad Men Era" construct was taking hold in business sectors from automobiles to defense industries to style houses and clothing creation. It was the modern sensibility of assured and equal quality across a corporate setting. So for "ErmZegna" after establishment of the foothold "creazioni sartorialia" was to evolve the next step - "The Gritti line was launched in 1968 and made by In.Co. di Novara [simultaneously a newly formed manufacturing and marketing company - Archive]. The Gritti was an "industrial" design applied to clothing, the precise aim being to enable the wearer to move at ease in a rapidly changing society." [Company Archive]

This is not a design aspect of the suit but a construct of a horizontal approach to society, and a product line to met that evolution. It was the realization that formality, style and social conformity was rapidly changing and clothing needed to fit those changes. Like I remember as a child in the 1950s wearing a blazer, shirt tie, and slacks as dress code to school, just as was a suit hat and leather dress shoes were the universal social and business uniform for men. But by the 1960s the hats gradually disappeared, and youth started wearing jeans to school... something unheard of a few years before. The Gritti was designed to evolve with the time, and a line of clothing was created in honor of this under that "Label".

So for "ErmZegna" the brands are in order of creation [all equal quality and value across all market segments]:
1968 Gritti,
1974 Zegna Sport line - Yachting and Special Projects
1989 Z Zegna line - Z Zegna Soft and Special Projects
1996 Su Misera,
1996 Ermenegildo Zegna,
2002 Couture, and
2002 Ermenegildo Zegna Special Products...

Over the years this various aspects of the original plan have been created looking towards different market segments. Often the Z-Zegna line is denigrated, when it is one of the biggest marketshare successes for the company: "The Zegna Soft line was launched in 1989 for young fashion conscious consumers seeking the natural look of casual clothing in classics revisited by Zegna It offered garments for less formal situations but always inspired by the canons of formal elegance. Addressing a demand for more relaxed and casual garments, the construction of Zegna Soft outerwear was lighter and simplified whilst retaining reliability. The line included a wide array of products, from outerwear to trousers, shirts and ties. In the early 90s the line evolved into Super Soft, featuring even less constructed cuts, with rounded, more informal shoulders. Both these lines were definitively replaced by Z Zegna in 2004." [Company Archive]

Many manufacturing divisions in Italy, Turkey, Spain, and Mexico have been set up and operated under the Company's single quality standard. Your are no matter the brand or label on your clothing it was designed, constructed and manufactured to the same quality but for a different purpose and market.

Too much is made of "canvas" or "fused" construction or of material quality or whatever. The company designs and plans construction and manufacture based on the market use and wear expected. A daily wear suit for most of use we cannot afford a $20,000 suit which we recycle out of the closet after a year or six months, though only 2-5% of its useful life has been worn. In all candor the expensive suit due to the means of construction and materials used would not hold up to a typical daily wear use for several years for a mid level manager. But would that suit need to be as durable as one costing $1000 and worn every other day for 2 - 3 - 4 years in a more demanding environment such as a junior engineer, particularly when the marketing of the $1000 suit is really a $500 suit with an inflated price to given more perceived purchase value to the customer. Likely not. Or In fact the very fine $800 yard or more material likely which on a typical 44 US suit of the $20,000 would amount in pants and jacket to be 6 yards of material to make the suit suit would not hold up the the wear expected of the cheaper suit, taking 6 yards of $200 yard fabric. But for every $20,000 suit 10,000 $1000/$500 suits are sold and used.

The man who can afford the expensive suit gives not consideration to ultimate durability that the less fortunate man gives. But the goal is to dress each equally well with equal quality of design, construction and manufacture. Though those would vary in trade off for use intended. Buy what you can afford... and know you have a good deal if it fits well first and second looks good in wearing it and it lasts long enough for you to afford the next. Only worthless lame snobs will hold that against you. Rich men will know and judge you on your sense and efforts to compete are a non sequitur to them... a common man cannot! That all said, if you run onto an used expensive suit for a few pennies on the dollar, and you have the money it is no harm to pretend a little an innocent vicarious trill!

so you wrote a book as answer to a ten year old post? didnt read the whole thing but seems like the zegna koolaid taste beautifully

All kidding aside. I wish the total quality management would include training their sales associates to understand how to take measurements and their tailors to learn basic alterations.
I am still hoping it was an American mall phenomena (and experiences are much better globally) but I am assuming the rich people crowd in Stanford, CA/ Silicon Valley buys suits every now and then hence I would have expected much better. I had such a terrible experience at their store that I demanded my money back for my suit and my laughable big MTM shirt- shirt $440 and suit $3500 - one would think they know what they are doing at these prices.

 

[Phileas Fogg]

Seriously? Don't you have a corpse to raise?

it took all those years to research and compose that lengthy post. I believe Robert Caro wrote 2 book during that span.