STYLE Edit: Sustainable luxury fashion the Ermenegildo Zegna way – why protecting the environment needn’t be bad for business
Italian luxury designer Ermenegildo Zegna’s #USETHEEXISTING campaign emphasises upcycling and pledges to innovate environmental processes – recognised at Italy’s Green Carpet Fashion Awards
Conventional wisdom holds that protecting the environment is bad for business. Ermenegildo Zegna and parts of the Italian fashion industry would beg to differ.
On September 22, the National Chamber of Italian Fashion (Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, or CNMI) held its third annual Green Carpet Fashion Awards. Dedicated to sustainability in the luxury industry, Milan’s Teatro alla Scala opera house hosted the ceremony. Zegna was the winner of an award in Recognition of Sustainability.
At Zegna we are working on new generations of sources, valuing recycling as a new path to not waste any single material of the production chain – it’s a mission and vision that we are fully investing in
Behind the award jury’s decision has been the concept of “upcycling”. Simply put, it means recycling used products to create items with higher quality and value than the original.
Zegna is pursuing this worthy goal by means of its new #USETHEEXISTING project, which the Green Carpet Fashion Award recognised. According to creative director Alessandro Sartori, the hashtag represents nothing less than a mindset “to work on the upcycle of the whole fashion process”.
“At Zegna we are working on new generations of sources, valuing recycling as a new path to not waste any single material of the production chain,” says Sartori. “It’s a mission and vision that we are fully investing in. This is the principle behind the past collections and the future ones.”
Launched as part of the Ermenegildo Zegna XXX Winter 2019 show and extended to the Summer 2020 show, #USETHEEXISTING has started with a pledge to use innovative processes to improve the usage of wool and technical fabrics from pre-existing sources. Specific materials such as plastic bottles and bamboo fibres are also being recycled.
The brand’s CEO, Gildo Zegna, received the award alongside Sartori.
“Zegna’s global mission is deeply rooted in the pioneering vision of the founder Ermenegildo, who firstly understood the importance to develop the brand respecting nature and enhancing sustainable projects,” Zegna said. “With the #USETHEEXISTING project, Zegna is today reinforcing its pledge in the sustainable journey which lasts since 1910.”
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