"I especially want to meet my great-grandfather Ermenegildo," Edoardo Zegna said in a rare interview, speaking for the first time as a family representative. Today, Edoardo Zegna is Zegna's chief marketing officer and chief digital and sustainability officer, and the fourth generation of his family. "If I had to describe him in a general way, I think he is driven by a non-realistic and positive mindset, which allows him to express all emotions and creativity in the purest way."

That year, Ermenegildo opened a wool textile factory in the mountains of Biella, which over the years developed into a fully functional factory. In addition, in the 1930s, he started a project in the mountains to improve the landscape, the natural environment and the local community, until 1993, the project was officially named "Zegna Oasis".

It all starts on Route 232, which begins in the valley around Trivero, where the wool mills are located, and winds its way from 700 metres above sea level to its highest peak at about 1,800 metres. "How did this project come about? I pictured my great-grandfather, then in his thirties, walking out of his factory office and deciding to go for a walk in the hills, sitting on a rock, smiling and saying to himself, 'That's it, then, let's get started!' So he planted half a million plants and created a 26-kilometer road to connect the valley and the mountains."

But in reality, he did much more than that, and Ermenegildo even developed a program for employees and the local community. Edoardo continued, "My great-grandfather believed that the best way for a person to fully express themselves in a business was to create an environment around them that shared and served society. So near the factory he built a swimming pool, a ski resort, a hospital with a chapel, an orphanage, houses and ancillary shops - an ecosystem that really put employees in their place."

Ermenegildo has a unique perspective on how to reconcile entrepreneurship, ecological ideas and corporate sponsorship. Now, it all comes together in Inheritance from the Oasis of Zegna.

"Previous generations of the family had an important mission to preserve the Zegna Oasis and its magic, and to find a balance between nature, industry and community. Today, we are fortunate to have a place that retains the values of its origins, which is a valuable legacy."

The task now for those who preserve this extraordinary heritage is to inform and share it. Gildo Zegna's son continued: "We want to pay tribute to the founder of the business and everything that is here. But the question is: How do we introduce these houses and our values and all the emotions that accompany our lives? For 110 years, the story has been pure, but how can it be passed on to others with the same clarity? To that end, we wanted to break down a complex saga into simple elements, allowing readers to capture different emotions each time they read it. Inherited From the Oasis of Zegna can be described as a children's book, and the essence of the different elements in the book presents it in its original state: purity. This is also the true luxury of this gem set between the Valley of Biella and the Alps."

After reading this book, you will immediately know some anecdotes, personal life and emotional experiences, and it is easy to feel the ideas and values conveyed in the book. The paper used in this book is made of wool, cotton and wood pulp, and the special paper material gives the reader a very special touch. These stories describe Ermenegildo's patronage of artists and his friendship with Michelangelo's father, Ettore Pistoletto Olivero, Ettore Pistoletto Olivero also signed the wool processing in the Sala Quadri dining room. In the spirit of its founder, the Foundation continues to practice the path of "giving back" with field-specific works such as "All 'Aperto" (outdoor activities) by artist Daniel Buren and "Green Mind" by Michelangelo Pistoletto: "In this book, we invited artists who can tell this saga in the purest way to work with us, because art is emotion and an expression of the heart." For this reason, we chose artists who looked more innocent, playful and relaxed among the representatives."

How to read the book Inherited from the Oasis of Zegna? "The book is divided into four chapters by season, and each season depicts a mood. The most iconic chapter is autumn, whose colors have become the brand's signature color. The reddish-brown Vicuna seen from Highway 232 has become the signature color of the Zegna brand. The double stripe logo, which inseparably links the line and its birthplace, is the symbol of every Zegna product and represents the path pioneered by the founder: it is an emotional path, and the reddison-brown stripes of Vicuna are a window into the world in which we live."

Just from the names of the Oasi Cashmere and Oasi Lino series, it is not difficult to see that Zegna products are certified for 100% traceability, "one of our slogans is: we are one of the few companies in the world with a complete supply chain. For example, we advocate integrated production 'from wool farm to boutique' because we also have a farm in Australia. Our product promotion also starts in Zegna Oasis: in winter, we shoot commercials in Trivero; In the summer, we look for other oases around the world."

In April, during Milan Design Week, Zegna Oasis "settled" in Milan, in addition to the official launch of the new book "Inherited from Zegna Oasis", the brand will also redecorate the flower beds of Piazza Dumo with the original vegetation of the oasis: From early autumn to late spring, in four groves of evergreen shrubs camphor trees, we will be planting rhododendrons in turn, so that people can enjoy the iconic flowers of the Rhododendron basin in the city, and at the same time, one of the most popular sights in the Biella Mountains.

In the next few months, we will also plant the plum blossoms to ensure the seasonality of the plants, which will be replanted on Biella Hill after they are displayed in the square. "Throughout Milan Design Week, we will be opening our Zegna headquarters on via Savona to the public so that other parts of the city can have an immersive experience." Meanwhile, at Zegna Oasis, the reforestation program is still underway: "It's a beautiful thing to give away a tree.

On one hillside, called the Baby Forest in the introduction, we planted a tree for each of our employees' children and named it after the newborn (we planted more than 1,000 trees in the first ten years of the project).

We are also opening up another new forest: we are also giving away a symbolic, immediate tree and welcome support for the project, an idea that came from my visionary great-grandfather, who was an ecologist in a time when the word "ecology" did not exist."

Zegna Artistic Director Alessandro Sartori conceived the hashtag #UseTheExisting to define sustainable and responsible practices in all aspects of Zegna Oasis life: By making bookmarks from trees that have fallen for natural reasons, companies can minimize waste and obtain new fabrics and fabrics by upcycling and recycling existing materials.

The concept has received numerous awards, including the Sustainability Recognition Award from the Italian National Fashion Chamber at the Green Carpet Fashion Awards in Milan in 2019, and the Design Index Innovation Award from the Italian Industrial Design Association in 2020.

It's one of the pillars of what Zegna calls "Our road to tomorrow," a path that inspired the two-striped logo that appears on clothing and accessories as part of the company's mission, but that goes far beyond a graphic logo and represents more of the brand's promise. "We want these two stripes to be more recognizable in 10 years than the brand itself, because they convey an attitude to life, a heritage of values to be proud of."

In 2014, Zegna Oasis received sponsorship from the Italian Fund for the Environment (FAI) and became a lifestyle symbol." It is also an arcadia, a pure gem that needs to be understood, hidden 120 kilometers from Milan.

On June 22, 2022, 600 guests were privileged to visit Oasis on a special occasion, as they attended the Zegna Summer 2023 collection fashion show on the roof of the woolen mill. Edoardo Zegna explains: "That fashion show was the first step to showcase this place as a real luxury product."

Finally, he offered some advice to visitors who wish to visit the Oasis of Zegna so that they can get the best view: "When you look north from the Marca Hill or the church of San Bernardo, you can see the mountains, the greenery and the sky, and it is as if the small human beings do not exist. Another very special sight is the Po River Plain, when the clouds cover the sun, it's like you're in Big Sur, California."