De Sole on board Zegna

Domenico De Sole has announced that he is quitting the board of Procter & Gamble in order to avoid any conflict with the new brand that he and Tom Ford are creating with Estee Lauder. He is, however, now joining the board of the Italian menswear specialist, Ermenegildo Zegna SpA, quashing rumours that Tom Ford was launching a menswear collection produced by the Italian house.

"I have greatly enjoyed my work as a P&G director over the past four years," said the 61-year-old ex-Gucci boss in an interview with WWD. "I am stepping off the board so I can focus additional time on a variety of businesses, including my new venture with Tom Ford. It has been an honour to serve this great company and I remain confident about its future successes."

Meanwhile Zegna was delighted with De Sole's new appointment. "The Zegna family wants to create more value to the Zegna brand and Domenico will help us do that," said Zegna. "My responsibility is to Zegna and to utilise De Sole as a partner…He will make us better managers and thus a better brand so that we can maintain (market) leadership."

www.zegna.com
19 April 2005

Ermenegildo Zegna Launches Casualwear

Italian tailoring house Ermenegildo Zegna has introduced a fashion-led casualwear range for next spring.

Aimed at a younger age group than Zegna's mainline tailoring, the sport-inspired range features soft tailoring, leather motorcycle jackets, racer-striped suede Harrington jackets, driving shoes and a jeans offer. The spring collection has been bought by Selfridges, Harvey Nichols and Brown Thomas.

3 July 2003
www.zegna.com

YSL reveals the essence of Zegna

YSL Beauté (Gucci group) is to unveil the second fragrance from its Emerging Brands Division, 'Essenza di Zegna' by Italian fashion house Ermenegildo Zegna, during spring 2003. The new fragrance for men, is positioned as "a classic, but contemporary fragrance for the elegant man".

The fragrance is composed by Alberto Morillas and Jacques Cavallier of Firmenich and boasts top notes of Sicilian mandarin and Calabrian bergamot, a heart of Corsican myrtle and cardamom and ends with a vetiver and musk base. The bottle, created by American designer Doug Lloyd, is a simple, oval-shaped glass structure with a metal base and top.

Essenza di Zegna is to have limited distribution - in the first year it will roll out to only 4,000 points of sale worldwide. "We will be extremely selective in terms of distribution, as when we start with a new brand it needs to be perceived as something special by the retailers," YSL Beauté chairman and CEO Chantal Roos explained at a press conference.

Essenza di Zegna will launch worldwide on April 26, 2003. One-month exclusives are planned in the following department stores: Harrod's in the UK, El Corte Inglés in Spain and at all Saks stores in the US. The fragrance will be supported by a print ad campaign from May. Prices range from 18 EUR for a150g soap to 60 EUR for the 100ml EdT.

February 28, 2003
www.zegna.com