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  3. With flaking paint and rusty doors, many factories in the province of Biella

With flaking paint and rusty doors, many factories in the province of Biella

游客2024-10-18  7
问题     With flaking paint and rusty doors, many factories in the province of Biella in north-west Italy stand idle. Production of the woollen fabrics and clothing that made the region’s name has drifted away to cheaper countries. Supply from Asia crushed the local textile industry. Yet in Trivero, a town in the Alpine foothills, the looms of one mill are still busy. This is where, 100 years ago, Ermenegildo Zegna began his fashion house. The firm is now one of the world’s top makers of costly male kit. Whether Zegna stays on top depends on demand from Asia.
    Zegna has not been left unscathed by globalisation, an economic downturn and the capriciousness of fashion: sales fell by 8.4% to 797m ($1.1 billion) last year and net profits slumped to 17. 3m from 62m in 2008. "Protecting cash became our primary objective, turnover and profits secondary," says Gildo Zegna, the chief executive and a grandson of the founder.
    This year things look brighter; the firm hopes to achieve double-digit sales growth. Mr. Zegna and his cousin Paolo, the company’s chairman, have been building on their fathers’ decision to expand beyond weaving cloth. A generation ago bespoke tailoring declined as men increasingly bought off-the-peg rather than being measured for suits in the small tailors’ shops that Zegna supplied. So in the 1960s the company moved into ready-to-wear suits. Later in the 1960s it added sportswear and accessories. In the 1980s Zegna began selling its own clothes and now it has 300 shops and 250 or so franchised stores. About 90% of sales come from abroad. On the way, the payroll has grown to over 7,000, although in Trivero it has fallen from some 1,400 in 1970 to 500 now.
    Turning to the glitter of the male catwalk has helped Zegna survive when many of its peers perished. Off-the-peg its suits cost between ￠ 1,500 and ￠ 3,000, and made-to-measure ones an extra 20% or so. This attracts glitzy customers; George Clooney wears a Zegna suit in "The American", a new film about an assassin hiding in Italy.
    One of Zegna’s priorities will be to keep extending its distribution network, which has absorbed more than half of its average annual investment of around 50m over the past decade. Next year the firm will celebrate 20 years of selling in China, where its 91 shops now have sales exceeding those of the 14 it has in America; Italian sales rank third.
    India is the next frontier. Zegna recently entered into a deal with part of India’s Reliance Group to distribute clothes through a network of shops which their joint venture will set up. The first opened in Hyderabad in October; it will be followed by at least another nine by 2015.
    Success as a global luxury brand depends on various factors. Mr. Zegna points to creativity—a team of around 50 young designers dreams up the styles—and to a meritocracy among employees. From sheep to shops, quality control is essential.
    Each stage of production involves careful checks: at the wool mill, at the factory in Switzerland where suits have been made for decades, at other plants in Italy, including a knitwear factory at Verrone, and at a couple of locations elsewhere in Europe. Stockrooms at Verrone are tightly controlled for temperature, humidity and light. Before being dispatched, each of the 130,000 items that leave Verrone each year is checked for faults on brightly illuminated plastic mannequins.
    Zegna also has a niche upmarket women’s brand called Agnona which it acquired in 1999, but has no big plans to expand it. The firm will remain private, family-owned and devoted to menswear. Mr. Zegna says the firm has enough money to expand, so there is no reason to go public. "We’re working towards generational change, but I’m 55, my cousin is 54 and I don’t see succession as an immediate issue," he says. With 11 members of the fourth generation now in their 20s and teens, Ermenegildo Zegna looks like remaining a family affair. [br] Why did the company of Zegna survive in the fierce competition and economical depression?
选项 A、The company had a clear map of its developing and expanding.
B、The company made its decision on the demand of the market.
C、The company took advantages of the celebrities.
D、All of the above.
答案 D
解析 细节题从文中可知，Zegna公司成功的原因有多方面。第二段中透露出公司的决策人对公司面临的困境和发展方向很明确，因此A是对文中的间接理解；第三段可知，公司立足市场需求．改向成衣制作，因此B为正确描述；第四段中指明电影明星的男士时装秀带来的发展，因此C也是其中一个因素，故答案为D。
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