NEW YORK — Ermenegildo Zegna is showcasing its entire product range in a new flagship on Fifth Avenue.
For the first time, Agnona women’s wear will share space with the Ermenegildo Zegna men’s collections: Sartoria, Couture, Z Zegna, Zegna Sport and accessories. And if the experiment is successful, the concept will be rolled out to other Zegna stores around the world.
“It’s a test we’re trying out first in the U.S. because if it goes well there, then it will fly in all our other markets,” said Gildo Zegna, co-chief executive of Zegna and Agnona. “We’ve seen it happen in the past with other initiatives, such as our leather and accessories lines, Z Zegna and Couture. We really feel it’s a fantastic cross-selling strategy in that our male customer can bring his [wife or girlfriend] and vice versa.”
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Richard Cohen, president and ceo of Zegna USA, revealed that the rollout has already begun.
“We’re building an Agnona shop next to our Ermenegildo Zegna store in South Coast Plaza [in Costa Mesa, Calif.],” he said. That store is expected to open in July.
Interestingly, the idea to add Agnona to the mix came from San Francisco retail legend Wilkes Bashford. As Cohen recalled, “We have to give him the credit. He suggested it and we thought it was a good idea. The culmination of that idea is what you see.”
Cohen called it a “major move for a men’s monobrand to add women’s,” but it will present “a whole new opportunity for the store. The Zegna brand has developed so much in the past 10 years that we needed to have a showcase. This is the result of years of investing in the brand.”
The two-level store, at 663 Fifth Avenue, replaces a narrow 4,500-square-foot store a few blocks north that opened 12 years ago. That store was a sliver of a location with four floors of selling space. “This store is much more open,” Cohen said. “It’s a high-traffic location and people won’t miss us here.”
Visibility will be aided by a video that will be projected at night on top of the entrance. “If we’re going to have a location on this part of Fifth Avenue and pay these rents, we want it to work for us 24 hours a day,” said Cohen.
Although he declined to say how much the store cost to construct or what it would produce in terms of annual sales, industry sources expect it will do $20 million a year. The old store’s volume was said to be between $12 million and $15 million.
Zegna said, “Our forecast was to double sales from our previous location and I have to say that, in the first week, the store has surpassed our expectations.”
Two large windows on Fifth Avenue draw customers in with displays of men’s and women’s wear. Upon entering, the women’s collection is on the left and men’s furnishings are on the right.
The remainder of the women’s wear, as well as a smattering of home items — chinchilla throws, cashmere blankets and teddy bears — are in the back of the floor.
The lower level is accented with softer lines, lighter materials, rugs and lamps, and there’s a private women’s fitting room in the rear with sofas and drapes to provide a cozy atmosphere.
The store’s custom-designed interior alternates between sleek rosewood and waxed walnut accented with nickel-plated steel and rich brown Italian leather. Floors are Italian marble. The store was designed by architects Gianmaria and Roberto Beretta of Studio Beretta in Milan.
A mezzanine has rest rooms for both genders and the second floor features men’s wear. On one side is Zegna Sport and the rest of the company’s sportswear offerings, including casual outerwear, leathers, sport shirts and pants. That transitions to the front of the store, where tailored clothing is housed.
Store imagery also features large blowups of Oscar winner Adrien Brody, the face of Zegna.
Brody is expected to be one of the guests at the store’s opening party Tuesday night. There will be three generations of Zegnas in attendance: Gildo and his sister, Anna, director of image and worldwide communications; their father, Angelo, the grandson of the founder, and Gildo’s and Anna’s children. The business was formed in 1910 as a textile-manufacturing concern in Trivero, Italy, and has passed through four generations to its current management team.
The addition of Agnona completes the circle. After branching into men’s wear in 1954, the company partnered with Francesco Ilorini to create Agnona. That business was brought into the Zegna fold in 2000.
Zegna summed it up this way: “We’re very fortunate to have opened at the right season in the right year. Of course, it was still a brave decision on our part, yet without taking measured chances, you can’t move forward.”
With contributions from Courtney Colavita, Milan