Benetton Group is a global fashion brand based in Ponzano Veneto, Italy founded in 1965. United Colors of Benetton was founded in 1965 by siblings Luciano, Giuliana, Carlo, and Gilberto Benetton.
Clothing worker Luciano had been selling sweaters made at home by Giuliana to stores in nearby Treviso since 1955 before Carlo and Gilberto came aboard in 1965 and Benetton opened its first factory.
Benetton Group has a network of about 5,000 stores worldwide. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Benetton family's holding company Edizione. In 1965, the Benettons opened their first store in Belluno and three years after in Paris. The company's core business consists of clothing brands United Colors of Benetton and Sisley. Benetton was an iconic brand in the 1980s and 1990s but has since struggled to regain this position. In 2000, it ranked 75th in Interbrand's ranking of best global brands; however, by 2002, it had dropped out of the list. In 2012, Benetton Group was delisted from the stock exchange and is now a fully owned subsidiary of the Benetton family company Edizione holding. In 2017, the group posted a loss of €180 million. Prompted by the heavy losses, Luciano Benetton, who was then 83 years old, returned from retirement as Executive Chairman for the brand. Revival efforts also included appointing Jean-Charles de Castelbajac as artistic director and reappointing photographer Oliviero Toscani. As of 2020, United Colors of Benetton has 1,500 employees and uses 25,000 workers through subcontractors.
Launched in 1965 with a single collection of colorful sweaters, Benetton is today a global success story, producing over 150,000,000 garments a year for 6,000 Benetton stores in 120 countries.
In 1965, Benetton was founded as a family business by four siblings, followed only four years later by the first store in Paris. In the meantime, around 5,500 other stores have followed. The Benetton Group also includes Undercolors of Benetton, Sisley, Playlife and Killer Loop.
The company became known above all for its provocative advertising campaigns with the star photographer Oliviero Toscani. With penetrating themes such as drugs, war, racism, poverty and AIDS, Benetton tries not only to attract attention and provoke, but also to introduce social themes such as contrast and globalization into fashion. It was precisely through one of these campaigns, which bore the motto “All the colors of the world”, that the label found its name “United Colors”.
With United Colors of Benetton most people associate, as the name suggests, a colorful world of clothing that can be bought by everyone. But it is not only shrill rainbow colors that are behind United Colors, but also worldwide future-oriented topics such as sustainability, transparency and globalization. A brand that is currently experiencing a new boom, with the return of former CEO Luciano Benetton, and which is spreading more and more through large flagship stores.
