After studying at New York City’s Fashion Institute of Technology, focusing on womenswear and knitwear, Henry Zankov started his first job in the industry in 2003, as assistant designer at Donna Karan. In 2006, he was promoted to designer, reporting to the creative director of DKNY and Collection.

After five years at Donna Karan, in 2008 Zankov decided to transition to consulting and to collaborate with smaller or emerging designers in New York, such as Jason Wu, Robert Geller, TSE, and several others. In 2010 Zankov was approached by Edun right after it was acquired by LVMH. Here he was design director of knitwear and oversaw both the men’s and women’s lines. Edun’s objective was to build work and production in countries in Africa, with a focus on the sub-Saharan region. In 2014, Zankov was hired at Diane von Furstenberg as head of knitwear. At DVF he oversaw the entire design and development process for the sweater category and reported to the creative director as well as directly to Diane. During his time at DVF he grew the knitwear category, which came to make up nearly 25% of the entire business.

In 2018, Zankov began consulting for various designers in New York as well as teaching a senior thesis class at Parsons. In 2020, he launched his namesake brand ZANKOV and began working exclusively with Christopher John Rogers on creating and building the brand's knitwear offering and business.