Alejandro Pernas He did not plan to dedicate himself to the textile industry, he studied engineering because he wanted to be a mechanical engineer, but the weight of family tradition was stronger and, finally, he joined his father, who had already been working in the field and had participated in the Modart brand. It was in May 1983 when father and son began this adventure with a men’s clothing store.
“Over time we developed industrially and began to produce for different brands, including Sastrería González, which has been in the market since 1920,” recalls Alejandro. In the ’60s and ’70s, González was a fashion benchmark in the country, but with the arrival of international brands it began to decline, although it continued to maintain its presence. Finally, in 1999, with my father we decided to buy the rights to the brand. I am a fighter and an entrepreneur from a very young age, and thank God the young blood became interested in the business and today my son is successfully leading the destinies of GNZ”. Currently the family society is made up of Alejandro —CEO of the brand— his son Nicolás, his wife, his sister and his mother.
News: What is the secret to sustaining a brand for so long in a complicated country like Argentina?
Alejandro Pernas: It is true that in a country with so many economic and political ups and downs, everything costs much more, but the brand has always maintained the quality of the raw material and the quality of the clothing. In addition, from 2010 to 2014 we made large investments in state-of-the-art technology, and in June I am going to a world technology fair for the textile industry to see what is happening in the world and if there is any machinery that is worth incorporating. On the other hand, for six years we have been working to renew the product and the image of the brand and we are moving to the acronym GNZ to get rid of the tailoring corset, although tailoring continues to be the backbone of the brand. All this means that today we are very well positioned, always aiming at the ABC1 segment. The reality is that we care and we are passionate about what we do.
News: How would you define the GNZ style?
Pernas: The new collections are a bit more daring, but in a good way, we’re never going to do something crazy, the idea is to keep up with modernity.
News: What is your own style? Did you only see his mark?
Legs: Yes, I only wear González, except when I wear sportswear. My wardrobe is a little more edgy when it comes to sport coats and a little more classic when it comes to formal tailoring. Most days I wear a sports jacket, gabardine or jean pants and boots or slippers. We have a spectacular sneaker collection.
News: How do you think the collections? What do you take into account when creating a new collection?
Legs: The collections are managed based on what inspires us, what we are seeing, the information that we are collecting around the world and also applying our own imprint, adapting to what the Argentine market is. There is a work team that does research and then different ideas are combined to make the collection.
News: Do trends interest you? Do they have weight for you?
Legs: Yes, of course, trends interest us, but I insist that we are never going to be a crazy brand, rather a modern brand. We recently presented our Destino GNZ winter collection at the Ezeiza International Airport. It is a cosmopolitan proposal that combines elegance with informality. We have Italian fabrics with cold tones and accents in warm colors, double-breasted suits, pleated pants, and beige and gray as the predominant tones for this fall-winter.
News: What is it like to work as a family?
Pernas: Working as a family is a pleasant experiencebut everything that involves the day to day out there it generates some kind of sizzle. I remember that in the early days with my father we would get angry and within ten minutes we were having coffee and talking about the business again. The same thing happens to me today my son, we have some differences, it is logical, but we are intelligent people to be able to handle these differences in a comfortable way.
News: How are the roles divided?
Legs: I am in the industry, details and collections. Nicolás is the executive director and deals with marketing, relations with companies and also participates in the collections. My sister is in the administrative part and my mother worked with us for a long time, she was a seamstress all her life, and today she is retired, she is 87 years old. And my wife Analía supported me unconditionally from the beginning and ten years ago she joined the company in the operational part with very good results in management and quality controls.
News: How is the Argentine market currently?
Pernas: The clothing industry is going through a very difficult time in terms of human resources. This item had a large presence of foreign people before the pandemic, but many returned to their countries. Now finding labor is difficult and qualified, very difficult. You have to do a little school, that’s why we are training people, which takes time and requires an investment, but we do it with the certainty that it is the only way. If we don’t train in twenty years we don’t have people in the business. We must continue working and betting on the training of young people and trying to get the employee to love the company and their workplace again, as they existed years ago. Despacito we are achieving it with a series of benefits, things that make people feel the value of belonging.
News: How do you deal with times of crisis?
Legs: With waist. We are past 2001, hyperinflation, the pandemic, the weak economic situation, the drought, all are seasonings that make the situation load with problems. In a pandemic, for example, we supported the situation with a hasty construction of an online store and home assistance, and in this way we also gained new customers. Currently, 40 percent of the production is consumed for our brand and the remaining 60 percent we produce with other brands.
News: Did you think about incorporating women’s clothing?
Legs: Yes, it is a new challenge that will possibly be embodied within this year. We are devising the models, we want to do something limited and selective, a capsule collection, changing colors but with the same quality of raw materials and clothing that we use for men’s collections.
News: What is your biggest challenge as an entrepreneur?
Legs: Have a greater presence in the different shopping centers and manage to position the brand where it was at some time in its history, well above. That is the great challenge. Regarding the expansion, first we have to consolidate the capital and Greater Buenos Aires and then start disembarking in the different provinces.
News: What is your life like outside of work?
Legs: I am a fan of River and I go to the field the days we play at home. I go for walks three or four times a week and the weekends are spent with the family, a bit of recreation, going to eat, to the movies, to the theater. On Sundays we have family lunch at my house or at mom’s. I have three children: the eldest, Sabrina, who is an accountant and has a degree in business administration and lives in Barcelona, Evelyn, who wants to be a singer, and Nicolás. I must say that my wife is largely responsible for the children we have today and, furthermore, she is the one who makes the bad moods that are generated at work dissolve later at home.
