Zegna, the venerable brand known for its unparalleled fabrics, is as Italian as it gets. So Italian that I couldn’t help but feel transported away from Malibu, still recovering from the 2025 wildfires, and dropped right into the universe of Oasi Zegna, the nature preserve the company endows in the Piedmont region of Italy. It is a large part of the brand’s front-facing image, and to that end, Zegna is partnering with California State Parks to help with wildfire recovery in Southern California.

Zegna came to Malibu to make entreaties to the American fashion market with its colorful, louche new wares. Seersucker jackets, moccasins without socks, and dress shirts designed to expose just enough of the body to be sensual. They all felt like a nod to romance. Julie Ragolia, the stylist who helped Zegna artistic director Alessandro Sartori shape the show’s aesthetic, said of the choice of venue: “Malibu is a symbol for the creative dream, from timeless films to its architectural splendor. It is an area built around nature, where all that is public and private somehow converge contemplatively.”

But it wasn’t long ago that the Pacific Coast Highway was closed to incoming traffic, and the area around the pier where Zegna hosted the show was inaccessible. But life goes on, and the mood was celebratory. Zegna’s clothes offered clothing in vibrant, carnival colors that reminded me of the turning of the seasons, of moments of change. For Zegna, this is one of those moments. Zegna used to be a simpler house, run privately as a family concern. But that family is growing. For the last few years, Zegna has held the keys to the palaces of two of the biggest names in fashion: Tom Ford and Thom Browne. What it does with those names next could have far-reaching effects on the industry. But the question remains, how does one keep a legacy alive?

The house started as an Italian supplier of fine fabrics, sourcing raw wool from around the world and then processing it into the materials needed for bespoke tailoring houses to build the most sumptuous luxury suits imaginable. Founder Ermenegildo Zegna built his empire not by selling to the customer, but to the companies who would. This changed in the 1960s, when Ermenegildo’s sons, Aldo and Angelo, would take over the business. They reimagined Zegna as a brand, not just a supplier. They created ready-to-wear suits, opened retail stores and created a reputation for unparalleled craftsmanship at a far lower price point than the tailors of Savile Row. Zegna successfully turned its name into more than just a brand. It became something like a promise.

But what’s in a name? In an era of super-conglomerates like Kering and LVMH rapidly gobbling up brands and growing their portfolios to capture as many consumer segments as possible, keeping up means expanding the concept of a “brand.” That led Zegna Group Executive Chairman and Executive Director Gildo Zegna (Ermenegildo’s grandson) to inject capital into the company through an initial public offering in December 2021, which valued Zegna at over $3 billion. That allowed it to purchase Thom Browne and Tom Ford, brands that, just like Zegna, carry the name of their founder.

I met Gildo Zegna by the pool at the Chateau Marmont, which the previous night had hosted the after-party for the Malibu show. After being led through the fashion house’s nostalgic pop-up retail activation, Villa Zegna, I was plopped down at a table in the back of the pool deck. Gildo Zegna has the air of a man with the supreme confidence of someone who’s sorted out all the answers. When I asked him how he approaches the stewardship of two houses synonymous with their founders’ creative visions, he offered a personally chilling analogy. “ It’s like if I throw you in the pool, you don’t know how to swim.” For the record, I don’t know how to swim. “I’m there to help, but you can’t pretend you’ll become a record swimmer.”

It’s a process to integrate these brands into a larger conglomerate. With that process comes expansion and reinvention. “On Tom Ford, I would say the challenge there is to develop a strong women business,” Zegna said. For the leadership of each brand (and with Thom Browne continuing on at his namesake house), he said, “ they have to respect the legacy of this brand, but understanding the opportunity to utilize the shared services of the group and the supply chain.”

Perhaps the drastic differences between the aesthetics and the customers of Ford and Browne from Zegna are what will make this work. Other huge fashion conglomerates like LVMH and Kering have grown in such a way that sometimes the individual brands lose their distinctiveness. But Zegna has stayed on course, keeping its identity clear, rather than pushing to be trendy. The buttery soft moccasins, flowing knitwear and tailoring that looks like it could be as cozy as a bathrobe all fit into that philosophy of being out in sun and nature — on the beach, by the pool, living a life of slow comfort.

Browne and Ford are different, though. They are supremely American, even if their loyal customer bases are more centered in Europe or Asia. Ford is sexy, full of posturing and swagger. Browne is intellectual, playful, cheeky — the domain of schoolboy dreams and art world fancy. These aren’t just brand identifiers. They’re the individual worldviews of the houses’ founders. Like all publicly-traded companies, the focus is on growth, specifically the American luxury market. But with that is a remarkable amount of creative stability. Their sales remain robust, as other brands falter and scramble for answers, and Alessandro Sartori has led Zegna since 2016, which feels like an entire lifetime compared to the musical chairs at other brands.

That stability, Gildo Zegna said, comes from “ meritocracy. This is something I learned in America. If you’re good, you go. If you’re not good, you go back. If you fail, America gives you the opportunity to try again. T his Americanized way to see things constructively with an open mind and to try all over again. I think that is very much part of our DNA.”

Brands can evolve, but can they change? There are things that must stay the same, that can’t be touched. As brands go through creative directors like tissues, the connection to what made a house beloved seems to get fainter and fainter. Fashion can feel chaotic right now. Maybe the answer to slumping sales and customer fatigue isn’t splashy, headline-grabbing hires or empty collabs. Maybe the key is to hold steady, stay focused and deliver clothes that are, above all, wearable. Simplicity has never sounded so appealing.

Adrien Wulf, Stefano Tonchi and Giampiero Tagliaferri.