IN 1910, a young entrepreneur by the name of Ermenegildo Zegna founded a wool mill to create high-quality fabrics in Trivero, a small town in the Biella Alps in Italy. Having achieved success, the enterprising businessman - looking at the poor state of the town that gave birth to his business - later spent much of the 30s revamping Trivero. He built homes for employees, developed a leisure centre for the town's citizens, and gave the mountainous terrain a face-lift by having more than 500,000 conifers and rhododendrons planted on the most barren slopes.

More than 70 years later, his descendants have continued in his footsteps and the Ermenegildo Zegna Foundation, which pledges roughly one million euros (S$2 million) every three years, was founded in 2000 with the mission to conceive, coordinate and promote environmental, cultural, social and scientific initiatives in Italy and around the world. It is today one of the most prolific charity initiatives run by a fashion house.

'My grandfather believed that it is important to give back to the communities that need help, especially if they have a link to the brand itself,' says Paolo Zegna, chairman of the Ermenegildo Zegna Group, who was in town last week. 'In many ways, it was a win-win situation because he also thought that by improving the living conditions of say, the herdsmen, it would mean that they produce better fibres that we could in turn buy.'

It was with that belief in mind that the group decided to be a part of the International Vicuna Consortium that worked alongside the Peruvian government and communities to protect and safeguard vicunas in Peru, a rare camelid, whose fleece is considered the most precious in the world and which was nearly hunted into extinction. From no more than 5,000 animals in the 1960s, the number of Vicunas is now over 150,000.

'Vicuna fleece makes beautiful fabric, but it is very rare, not simply because of the number of animals but also because the shy and elusive nature of the animals makes it difficult to sheer their fleece which can only be done once every two years,' explains Mr Zegna.

'Previously, hunters used to kill them and then sheer their fleece. The only way you can get harvest from them without harming them is to gather a big group of people to surround a group of vicunas and then slowly inch them towards a pen to sheer them. That's very labour and time intensive and part of the reason why vicuna is so expensive.'

The foundation then started another project in Peru by developing a water facility in the Picotaini community so as to provide fresh water for vicuna breeders and their livestock, especially during the dry Andean winter months of June to August which coincides with the vicuna reproduction season. It will spearhead a similar project in Mongolia later this year.

Mr Zegna says: 'While vicuna fabric will never be mass produced and will remain exclusive, we do hope that by helping to increase the number of the animals with our water wells, more people will have the chance to enjoy this luxurious fabric.'

On the business front, the brand will launch two stores at ION Orchard - a standalone Z Zegna store for the younger, urban fashion-conscious gentlemen and an Ermenegildo Zegna flagship that will have a bigger focus on an 'upper casual' range which it feels sells particularly well in Singapore. The two stores join the existing outlet at Paragon.

'You might ask why we are expanding in this economic crisis and although I will say the decision to open these stores took place before the crisis, we decided to plough on and not pull out anyway,' says Mr Zegna, who adds that the Asian market has grown from a mere 10 per cent of the business about five years ago to a third today.

'Anybody that tells you they are not affected will be lying but we believe that Asia is an area where we have to focus our efforts on because it continues to grow unlike Europe where we expect our business to flatline. So when times get better and demand starts to grow again, these new stores will be there, ready to service our clients.'

This article was first published in The Business Times