Ermenegildo Zegna Group, Media Release, 20 March 2024
The Ermenegildo Zegna Group began sourcing Australian wool back in the early years of 1900. The inherent excellence and unique characteristics of this incredible natural fibre have allowed the Group to continue to perfect the beauty, the quality, and the performance of its products. In particular, Australian superfine wool has been, and continues to be, key to creating many of the Group’s most precious fabrics and exclusive garments.
Since 1963, the Group has supported trophies and awards that recognize the quality, performance, and innovation that Australian wool is known for around the world and across the industry. The Ermenegildo Zegna Group was the first to establish its inaugural “Ermenegildo Zegna Perpetual Trophy” to award and incentivize woolgrowers to improve the quality of superfine merino and has consistently worked to celebrate the importance of this fibre. This competition is the oldest existing in the world of wool. A second trophy, the “Vellus Aureum Trophy” followed almost 40 years later, in 2002 to celebrate the incredible advances made by Australian woolgrowers for absolute excellence, by benchmarking every year the finest woollen fleeces in Australia. In 2023 the finest wool fleece ever produced in the world won the Vellus Aureum Trophy: its fineness was 9.4 micron.
The Group ambition today is not only to pursue excellence in all it does, but also to act responsibly along its entire supply chain and over the past years, the company has continued to set the bar higher not only for itself, but also for all its partners.
This year the Group honoured Australia’s best woolgrowers by awarding the “Superfine Wool Trophy” and the “Vellus Aureum Trophy” during an exclusive celebration hosted in Sydney by Paolo Zegna, third generation of the Zegna family and Member of the Board of Directors of Ermenegildo Zegna Group. Both competitions continue to beintended to encourage and reward wool growers for their commitment to quality and to guarantee the best industry practices for wool processing. The winning wool bales and fleeces are judged according to a strict set of criteria including fineness, style, strength, colour and evenness.
“Every day since 1910, the road our founder paved has guided our responsible development, having steadily evolved from a superior wool fabric producer to a global luxury Group. Our ambition and our responsibility today remain the same: continue to pursue excellence and invest in the best fabrics and raw materials to create beautiful products of the finest quality applying a responsible approach to sourcing. We remain committed to upholding our legacy as we continue to align to the evolving cultural codes and needs of the new generations and consumers more broadly, believing in forward-looking creativity, know-how, technology, and sustainable innovation”, commented Paolo Zegna, third generation of the Zegna family and Member of the Board of Directors of the Ermenegildo Zegna Group.
The winners of the Vellus Aureum Trophy this year were Aaron and Rebecca Rowbottom (Myndarra, Victoria). Together with Danny and Megan Picker (Hillcreston Park, New South Wales) and David & Susan Rowbottom (Rowensville, Victoria) respectively 2nd and 3rd in the competition.
The 2024 Superfine Wool Trophy was won by David & Angie Waters (Tarrangower, New South Wales). The 2ndand 3rd place winners were Simon and Ann Louise Cameron (Kingston, Tasmania) and Brett, Sue, Cameron & Ellie Picker (Hillcreston Heights, New South Wales) respectively.
About Ermenegildo Zegna Group
Founded in 1910 in Trivero, Italy, the Ermenegildo Zegna Group is a leading global luxury group listed at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: ZGN). The Group is the owner of the world-renowned ZEGNA and Thom Browne brands, and operates TOM FORD FASHION through a long-term license agreement with The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. The Group also manufactures and distributes the highest quality fabrics and textiles through its Luxury Textile Laboratory Platform. At the Group’s core is a uniquely vertically integrated supply chain that brings together the best of Italian fine craftsmanship. Responsibility towards people, community and the natural world has been at the heart of the Ermenegildo Zegna Group’s belief since its founding. At the end of 2023, Ermenegildo Zegna Group had more than 7,000 employees and revenues of €1.9 billion in 2023.
