Gildo Zegna hasn’t ruled out China just yet — on the contrary.
While some luxury brands have been reporting a lackluster performance in that market in the last quarter, the chairman of the Ermenegildo Zegna Group last week touted an improvement in China and, telegraphing the confidence in it, the company will reveal that it will present Zegna’s spring 2028 collection with a fashion show in Beijing. While the precise location is still under wraps, the date has been set for June 11 next year, skipping once again Milan Fashion Week.
However, as with Dubai in 2025 and Los Angeles in June this year, Zegna said the decision to decamp from Milan was made in alignment with Italy’s Camera della Moda, and that it is aimed at preserving “its strong and enduring bond with Milan,” where it usually shows in January.
The event in Beijing will be followed the next day by the opening of a new Villa Zegna, the brand’s invitation-only temporary private club, which will remain in the city for a few days. Villa Zegna Beijing “will introduce an entirely new chapter and unfold a story conceived specifically for the city,” said the company.
Villa Zegna units also opened in Dubai and Los Angeles after the respective shows. In September 2024, Villa Zegna opened in New York, although in that case it was not connected to a show.
Zegna was the first luxury menswear brand to establish a direct retail presence in mainland China in 1991, opening its first store in Beijing and, over the years, China has been the stage of key milestones in the brand’s history. In 2010, Shanghai was chosen alongside Milan to celebrate Zegna’s centenary with a landmark fashion show. The following year, Zegna returned to Beijing with a show marking 20 years in China.
Last week, commenting on the group’s performance in the first nine months of the year, in an interview Gildo Zegna expressed his satisfaction with the performance of China, saying that “we fixed the motor and it’s performing well after two years of tuning the engine.” He touted the “excellence of the service and our personalization and attention to details” and the positive feedback received in the region for the Zegna brand’s Su Misura, Vellus Aureum and Triple Stitch shoes, for example. He also credited the two exclusive Salotto areas in Shanghai and Beijing for the elevation of the brand.
In the nine months, sales of the Zegna brand totaled 918.4 million euros, a 12 percent gain compared with 819.8 million euros in the same period last year.
In the third quarter, revenues climbed 13.8 percent to 283.8 million euros, driven by strong direct-to-consumer organic growth across all regions.
At the level of the group, which includes Thom Browne and Tom Ford Fashion, driven by continued strength at its DTC channel and strong business in the Americas and Greater China, group sales rose 7.2 percent to 1.42 billion euros, in the nine months ended Sept. 30. In the third quarter, revenues reached 433.8 million euros, an increase of 8.9 percent year-over-year.
The Greater China region reported revenues of 320.2 million euros, a 6.6 percent gain, representing 22 percent of the total. In the third quarter, the area rose 8.7 percent, driven by Zegna’s DTC channel.
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