Sustainability and Quality with Luca Cremona, Cutting Plant Director

Making high-quality garments is Zegna's specialty.

#Zegna has made precision tailoring its hallmark, transforming raw materials into garments that are unique in their beauty and comfort.

The awareness that high-quality raw materials are responsible for making a high-class garment possible has led Zegna to worldwide success, achieved by maintaining a balance between textile processing and environmental well-being.

The Group's new ESG goals, combined with the professional ethics that distinguish the brand around the world, shape the path for a future that leads toward 100 percent sustainable production.

But how is sustainability seen and experienced in Zegna's departments and production centers?

Optimize and innovate

According to Luca Cremona, Cutting Plant Director, the main question is: How do we make the world a better place to live in?

Luca works at the cutting unit located in Mendrisio and Oleggio where, together with his team, he researches, experiments, and implements solutions to make the production process more and more #sustainable.

Process sustainability is achieved by putting into practice the Zegna sustainable ethos, born from the awareness of founder Ermenegildo Zegna, who understood early on how much the good quality of a garment depends on a positive relationship with nature and the environment.

Observing the production process, Luca and his colleagues analyze each step to try to figure out how to reduce the consumption of energy, paper, and plastic and recycle as much material as possible.

#UseTheExisting

Luca explains some of the most important sustainability updates:

'Starting in December 2021, we have implemented in Oleggio, and later in Mendrisio, selective waste collection along the entire production process (paper, plastic, fabric scraps).'

This innovation is part of the broader Zegna project that aims to eliminate production waste by reusing fibers and textiles for new products. The official manifesto talks about Zegna's eco-sustainable vision and the dream of producing zero-waste clothing.

With leftover fabric, Luca and his team experiment with different recycling solutions:

'Depending on the composition of the fabric, soon we will be able to regenerate a yarn and from that a new fabric. In other cases, we will only be able to give it for processing to external suppliers who, through a down-cycling process, will turn it into car interior upholstery, sound-absorbing or heat-insulating material.'

Dreaming of the future

Inside the cutting unit, there have been major upgrades: recently, the unit has been equipped with a state-of-the-art machine that handles the cutting of garments without using paper and plastic.

This measurable progress really takes the issue of process sustainability one step further, enabling the Zegna cutting unit to create a much closer link between machine productivity and environmental sustainability.

By not using paper and plastic, by recycling every bit of yarn, denim, and any other raw material possible, the dream of being 100 percent sustainable is getting closer and closer.

All this makes everyone who works for its success proud to be part of the Zegna Group.