Large U.S. Market May Be a Perfect Fit for Zegna’s Expensive Menswear : Fashion: The clothier’s new store in New York signals the beginning of a marketing push in the United States. It hopes to cash in on the revival of custom tailoring.

Wealthy and discriminating male shoppers have known the Zegna name for decades. Members of European royal families and affluent Asian businessmen have Zegna suits in their wardrobes.

The Italian clothier hopes to capitalize on its cachet by opening a store in the United States.

A Zegna menswear shop will debut around Father’s Day in the shoppers’ Mecca of Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue. It will join half a dozen other Zegna stores located at ritzy addresses in foreign fashion capitals.

By venturing into U.S. retailing, Zegna wants to drum up more interest in its label. The goal is to boost business for Zegna merchandise sold around the country at upscale department stores, such as Neiman Marcus, and tony boutiques, including Ultimo in Chicago and San Francisco’s Wilkes Bashford.

Richard Cohen, president of Ermenegildo Zegna USA, the Italian group’s American arm, says the store is the centerpiece of a marketing strategy to enhance Zegna’s U.S. wholesale business. Annual U.S. sales volume has been running at roughly $20 million and Cohen expects it will grow substantially over the next few years.

Zegna, pronounced to rhyme with Kenya, will be following the examples of classy lines like Burberry’s, Chanel, Hermes, Louis Vuitton and others that increased American consumer awareness of their goods by opening stores here.

“We like to think of ourselves in the same ilk as those companies,” Cohen says.

The timing isn’t perfect to launch into retailing. “Obviously it’s not the best economic climate right now,” concedes Cohen.

Middle-of-the road retailers have fallen by the wayside as specialty merchants have made inroads into their business. Discounters and generalists--including the now vulnerable-looking goliath Sears, Roebuck & Co.--have discarded long-held pricing and merchandising practices in a bid to keep a grasp on market share.

Still, Cohen is confident. High-quality goods, he says, have what it takes to attract customers even in tough times. “You continue to do well in bad economic times because you’re offering value for money.”

Luxury retailers aren’t immune to problems if increasing numbers of consumers convert to more conservative buying habits. But luxury really never goes out of style among people with loads of money who view every purchase--even a new suit--as an investment, notes John Mincarelli, a professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York.

No matter what the economy is doing, the time might be right for what Zegna has to offer.

“What’s happened is we’re finding custom tailoring is becoming a status symbol again,” says Mincarelli. “It always was but now it’s more prevalent.”

Men’s fashion guru Alan Flusser, an author, designer and store owner, believes a revival has begun in made-to-measure suits.

“As prices of men’s clothes have risen precipitously, the difference between a good ready-made suit and a good custom-made suit has narrowed,” Flusser says. “The custom-made suit has had a renaissance in this country.”

Indicating that a trend has developed, more retailers and manufacturers with retail outlets are upgrading their tailoring services. Some bring their fabrics and samples to offices for customers too busy for in-store shopping. The ranks of these haberdashers who make house calls has expanded recently and include such mainstream quality clothing makers as HartMarx.

Zegna will offer roving tailors too. The fitters will visit offices and elsewhere to accommodate customers needing to be measured for alterations on ready-made clothing or for custom-made suits. The store will schedule private appointments for after-hours customers.

“The name of the game in this day and age is service,” Cohen says. “When your customer is available is when you make yourself available.”

At the top of the scale, a made-to-measure suit will retail at an average price of around $1,500. A customer’s measurements will be faxed to Italy where all the work will be done. Delivery is promised in four weeks.

The Zegna store will stock off-the-rack suits ranging from $900 to $1,500 with free alterations done on the premises. If that’s too pricey for someone keen to buy into the Zegna image there will be casual shirts for $60 to $65 and casual slacks for $225 to $250. Ties go for about $85.

Ermenegildo Zegna, named for his grandfather, who built the business and was known simply as Gildo, says much of what makes the company special is that it is still run by the founding family.

The company, based in Trivero, Italy, oversees the production of the wool and other raw materials that Zegna weaves into fabrics that become clothing. To encourage sheep breeders to maintain or improve the quality of their flocks, Zegna periodically awards prizes.

Gildo Zegna said in an interview during a spring visit to New York that the company aspires to growth but not to the extent that it could jeopardize quality or image.

“In terms of distribution, we want to keep it very exclusive and selective,” he says. “We are not interested to grow beyond a certain point.”