What sustainability means to Matteo Ferrario, Sustainability PR & Communication Manager at Zegna

A positive relationship with the community is the basis of success.

According to founder Ermenegildo Zegna, the quality of #Zegna clothing depends on collective well-being. The well-being of employees over the decades has created the success that has transformed Zegna from a local to a global business.

Today, as much as yesterday, Zegna's social and environmental values remain unchanged, but the commitment increased in relation to the greatest dangers facing the earth for decades now.

As has been the case in the past, Zegna focuses on improving textile processes by aiming for precision tailoring and quality, with #sustainability in mind.

What sustainability means to Zegna

What do the people who make up the Zegna Group think about it?

We talk about sustainability with Matteo Ferrario, Sustainability PR & Communication Manager, who has been part of the company for many years.

His first approach to Zegna's sustainable ethos was in 2005, when - as a researcher at Cittadellarte Fondazione Pistoletto - he studied the Lanificio Zegna production processes and the giving back plans for the territory and the community. During that time, he studied documents dating back to the 1930s about the founder's reforestation project. That project is now visible for all to see along Road Panoramica 232 leading up to the #OasiZegna.

What amazed Matteo the most was the powerful vision of the founder, who started something that would only be of great help almost a century later for the next generations to enjoy.

In the same way, today it is our job to preserve the planet there where necessary, to leave as a gift to future generations a safe home and a generous land to live on.

This is what sustainability is all about for Zegna: building balanced progress today without compromising the resources of future generations.

Zegna Baby Forest

Matteo also remembers with joy another very significant moment that occurred in 2016. In that year his daughter was born and to celebrate the event a tree was planted in the Zegna Baby Forest.

'This was not only a good action for the Planet but a touching gesture that generally occurs within a family when a new member arrives.'

The Zegna Baby Forest was born in 2010 inside the Oasi Zegna. Here, every time a member of the 'Zegna Family' becomes a parent, a new tree is planted to celebrate the new birth.

Currently, there are more than 1,000 trees planted.

Spreading the beauty of nature

In his daily work, one of Matteo's roles is to spread the beauty of Oasi Zegna through images, stories, and building experiences.

He admits that to fully notice and enjoy all that an enchanting and unique place like the Oasi can offer, one must disconnect from the world and reconnect with an open mind willing to appreciate the beauty of the world.

To all those who visit the Oasi, Matteo asks to change their perspective and use all their senses to enter in a deeper connection with the surrounding environment, our natural habitat as human beings. According to him, the beauty of the Oasi is there for all to see, so his job is to point out the natural beauties of a place that is an example of sustainability.

His invitation to visit this wonderful nature sanctuary is for everyone because this Oasi belongs to everyone.