No glib spiel. No grand rhetoric on the symbolism of power implicit in the male suit. For Paolo Zegna a suit is what a suit does. As simple as that. "To me dressing is a way to complete your personality and adapt to the environment. A suit doesn't mean anything more than what a nice polo or a great pair of jeans represents on a different occasion. It doesn't make a statement by itself; the way you accessorise it does. The important thing is it should make you feel well and appropriate." As he reasons, the ensemble's interpretation may vary from one country to another, one climate to another and one occasion to another. "It has no specific status really."

The casual stance belies the dogged pursuit of excellent quality that has been the hallmark of the Zegna label for three generations. Wool is quite literally in Zegna's blood. As Ermenegildo Zegna's grandson, he grew up inhaling the smell of fleece and listening to the sound of weaving. It was a matter of time before the warp and weft of the fine fabrics created by his grandfather and father got woven into the fabric of his own life. The serious face breaks into a smile as he tells you he wore his first Zegna suit at 16 for his confirmation ceremony. Today he, along with other family members, runs the renowned men's clothing empire that has a strong global presence.

Zegna is more about quality than fashion, says he. "My grandfather started the company in 1910 with the idea of producing fine fabrics. In his time people talked about creativity, not fashion." Today the brand has developed into the complete range of a man's wardrobe including the fashionable ready-to-wear ZZegna line and accessories. But Ermenegildo Zegna remains a quality collection both in traditional as well as innovative menswear, he stresses. "It's for men of good taste and refined style. We don't make extreme fashion statements unlike some of our contemporaries. We are a different animal. And we are very happy to be described in terms of quality. We are innovative but there is a sense of tradition in our range."

Zegna recounts the key role his grandfather played in introducing Italian fabrics to the world with a hint of family pride. "At the time, the English were centre stage; Italian fabrics were neither so well known nor sought after. But my grandfather saw that English style and colouring were always the same. While the English sold 150 metres in a single shade, he offered three different shades of 50 metres for the same amount of money. So there was already a creative Italian way to interpret style. Maybe that was the beginning of the fancy Italian way of doing textile and clothing compared to the more typical English way." Gradually the creativity of Italians and their taste for good things developed into an entire fashion aesthetic. And designers like Versace and Armani put Italian men's fashion on the world map.

Through three generations, Zegna has had exceptional success in selling made-to-measure suits. When the designer says they make the finest, most high-end fabrics in the world positioned at extreme end of super luxury, he's not joking. Sample this. The label manufactures some 50 cut lengths a year with impossibly superfine wool - the very best money can buy - customized to the taste of the customer. "He chooses the fabric and we make it expressly for him with his name woven on the finished product."