Luis Fernando Romo
Updated Monday, February 26, 2024-21:26
Leaders The return of Luciano Benetton, the man who filled fashion with colors: "I am not eternal"
Orphaned by his father at the age of 9,
Luciano Benetton
(88) had to pitch in to help at home, since his mother had to raise several children alone.
One of his jobs was as a
tailor's assistant
in a small shop in Treviso.
In a short time, the destiny of that young man and that of his family would change forever when his
sister Giuliana (87) knit him a
yellow wool sweater that dazzled the people who worked with his brother.
Luciano glimpsed his great
opportunity
.
He proposed to his sister that she knit
more brightly colored pieces
that he would be in charge of selling.
That initiative was very well accepted by the population that until then was besieged by
a monochromatic gray life
after the end of World War II.
Little by little they increased their
assets,
which allowed their little brothers, Gilberto (administration) and Carlo (production), to end up working alongside Luciano and Giuliana.
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It no longer mattered that Luciano had had to
leave school at the age of 14
and, therefore, break his dream of
devoting himself to medicine.
He had found his way in the world of fashion along with the invaluable help of his sister, who
knitted non-stop from dawn to dusk.
With money obtained from small savings and the sale of a bicycle and a harmonica,
they opened their first store
called My Market in 1964, 60 years ago, in Belluno, about 80 km north of Venice.
The following year they founded the
Maglierie Benetton
company , which was the
seed
of the Benetton brand.
With
its own factory
on the outskirts of Treviso, everything was a matter of course.
Little by little they
opened stores in Italy
until in 1969 they dared to do so abroad, specifically, in Paris.
That same year
they acquired Villa Minelli
in Ponzano Veneto (Treviso), made up of a group of 18th century buildings.
In
these 55 years
since they crossed the Italian borders and inaugurated what is still the company's headquarters today, the Benettons became one of the
capitalist symbols of the moment
along with the
Agnellis
.
The businessman, in the 90s.GTRES
The great secret of the empire was color.
They created a range of
36 chromatic variations
that dazzled the world.
In 1980 they opened in New York, then Tokyo, London, Rome, Barcelona, Moscow... and even
Havana would come.
Merkel and Sarkozy kissing, one of the brand's controversial advertising campaigns.GTRES
In 1982 the company would make history by
hiring photographer Oliviero Toscani
to be in charge of advertising campaigns
whose controversies
did not leave rulers, international media and clients indifferent.
The first was called
All the Colors of the World
, which showed a group of young people of different ethnicities.
The big news would not be long in coming when they took advantage of
taboo and controversial topics
to attract attention.
In the collective imagination there still remains an AIDS patient, clothes dyed with the blood of a soldier killed in the Balkan war, an American girl and a Russian boy hugging, a Palestinian and an Arab holding a world map, world leaders of the same sex kissing...
In addition to fashion, they invested their profits in
transportation, catering
and in having
their own F1 team
in which Rocco (54), one of Luciano's sons who is mainly dedicated to
investment funds, competed.
His brother Alessandro (59) is the current president of Edizione (Atlantia, Generali, Cellnex), the parent company that last year had a
market price of almost 2.5 billion
euros and which employs
almost 8,000 people.
Of the founding quartet only Giuliana and Luciano live.
The latter has a golden life with a
fortune of
$3.3 billion according to
Forbes
.