Shop Talk: Cool and Collected
Menswear gets an upgrade at the new Zegna boutique.
Linen overshirt, $995, “5-Pocket” wool jeans, $675, and #UseTheExisting “Triple Stitch” wool sneaker, $750, all Zegna. / Photograph by Ted + Chelsea.
When Italian menswear brand Zegna announced it was relocating from its outpost in Copley Place to a brand-new spot on Newbury Street, in-the-know Bostonians flocked to its buzzy November opening to see what all the fuss was about. Businessmen inspected shelves of properly tailored dress shirts, while younger gents gravitated toward the slick designer-sneaker selection. The evening was, by all accounts, a sartorial success.
Visit the boutique yourself, and you’ll see why. Sitting street level in the Newbury Boston, Zegna welcomes clients through an enormous paned-glass façade, and into a carefully cultivated forest of casual-luxury pieces: crewneck knits, cotton-silk joggers, and pure-cashmere overshirts, among others. (The forest analogy, incidentally, is not so far off; the Zegna family oversees a park in Italy’s Biellese Alps. More on that later.) Adventure further, past the chic beanies and suede kicks, and you’ll find an equally inviting back room. Here, clients can customize made-to-measure shirts, suits, sweaters, and even jeans using Zegna’s vast library of house-made fabrics.
Materials are a particular point of pride for the company, with roots that stretch back to Zegna’s founding as a textile maker in 1910. It was then that Ermenegildo Zegna started a mill in Italy to produce the world’s finest wool—still a staple in many of the company’s bespoke and ready-to-wear items today.
But that wasn’t Ermenegildo’s only legacy: He also laid the groundwork for the brand’s deep commitment to sustainability, creating Oasi Zegna—a public nature preserve surrounding the original mill. While most of us won’t be jetting off to Italy anytime soon, Bostonians can enjoy the brand’s eco-friendly approach in other ways (see: Zegna’s #UseTheExisting collection, crafted with recycled materials). Plus, the team has commited to donating to the Friends of the Public Garden, a nonprofit devoted to protecting the Public Garden, Boston Common, and Commonwealth Avenue Mall.
From Italy to Boston, Oasi Zegna to our green spaces, Zegna continues to be a perfect fit for the Hub. Consider us impressed.
Courtesy of Zegna
Things We Love
1. “Baby Island” cotton-cashmere crewneck, $1,095.
2. Merino wool joggers, $1,195.
3. #UseTheExisting merino wool tote, $1,250.
Courtesy of Zegna
