Biography of Luciano Benetton

A man, a brand, a style

May 13, 1935 Luciano Benetton was born on 13 May 1935 in Treviso. Chairman of the Benetton group, one of the founders of the long and glorious family's experience in the field of fashion is also a Director of Edizione Holding, the holding company of the family and the group. According to family history, winning the intuition would have had him, Luciano Benetton, the eldest of the family. Luciano Benetton is the son of Leo, whose job is to rent cars and bicycles, and rose Campbell; According to the tales would be just the first of four sons Luciano, to enter the world of knitting. Anyway one of the Benetton group is a story in which covered all four brothers, including Giuliana, Gilberto and Carlo, in a form of direct participation and each with their own specific features. When he died in 1945, Luciano Benetton, Lion must drop out of school, at the age of ten. Do you take as a clerk in a fabric store and came into contact with the sector. After a few years, at the beginning of the economic boom, the sister Giuliana the tailor make a sweater that has as its only feature to be yellow. Is new to the times, because kids don't use bright colours to dress up. Despite this, many are beginning to get to the family's that color. The young Luciano, who at that time has not yet twenty years old, he realizes that may invest all over the image and the color, yellow or whatever, can become a distinctive promotional and commercial point of view. Spend some years of sacrifices and in 1965 the sons of Benetton Lion give birth, together, the first real store with the family brand, in Ponzano Veneto, a small town in the province of Treviso. The restoration of the establishment who purchase last for years and have relied on architects, Afra and Tobia Scarpa. The idea of Luciano Benetton and his brethren is to open shops and outlets in the city center, in the most elegant. In Ponzano, the frame in which the Benetton shop is one of the ancient Villa Minelli; This soon became the Group's headquarters. The formula used to expand commercially, rather than brilliant if you consider the time, soon becomes that of the franchise, that Benetton invent or import for the first time in Italy. Also in 1965, a new Benetton store opens in Belluno. The owners, once again, they are all four brothers. In 1971, only four years later, Benetton give life to the first shop in Paris, a city that in those years the Act from the point of view of fashion. The production, at least in these years of pioneering company, so to speak, focuses mainly on customers ' requests. The clothes are simple, natural coloured wool and are the customers themselves to obtain the desired color by choosing directly from the catalogue, which becomes the true mark of Benetton, spacious and refined. Gli anni ' 70 are those in which Luciano Benetton stands permanently at the helm of the family group, investing into new and different areas and incorporating other brands. In 1972 he established "Jean West" and in 1974 shop Sisley, making it a branch of the same House in Treviso. Meanwhile, increase the outlets across Europe and the brand in 1980 appears for the first time also in New York, with its own shop. Follows two years later another important opening in Tokyo. In the years ' 80, therefore, the Group has over 1000 sales centers in Italy as well as France, Germany, 280 in 250 in 100 in England and 25 in the Netherlands. The time is ripe to put faces to mark and Luciano Benetton, Chairman of the group, he realizes that sport can be an important part to internationalize the product, through successful sponsorships but also, and especially, with effective and targeted advertising, which makes the brand recognition a their strong point. Benetton and Oliviero Toscani, from this moment on, bind their respective experiences, launching an advertising policy often geared to provoke and to discuss, but always in a way apt. In 1985 the Group won the Grand Prix de la Publicité Presse Magazine and the Grand Prix de la Communication film carrier bags. Entry into Formula one takes place through the Tyrrell racing, which Luciano Benetton decides to support. After just three years, the team Benetton Formula Limited following the acquisition of Toleman. During these years, the group becomes first sponsor ufficiale del Rugby Treviso and, since 1983, with the title of Benetton Rugby, acquired full rights, initiating a national success story. Same thing happens in basketball. In 1982 President Balfour handed over the ownership of the team from Treviso to the Benetton family who becomes the owner of the company, catching it from the A2 Division. In 1987 the purchase arrives at Antares Vittorio Veneto and the beginning of a series of successes that from 1988 are called Sisley Treviso. Meanwhile, from 1986 Luciano Benetton also carries the brand on the stock exchange in Milan, then to Frankfurt and New York. But the group is not only oriented to expand commercially. To prove it's birth in 1987 + Fondazione Benetton Studi e ricerche, presided over by the same Luciano and under the direction of Domenico Luciani. The Foundation takes care of the landscape design, with projects all over the world, especially in the Mediterranean, organising seminars, courses and study trips. To confirm this identity not only mercenary approach there is the establishment in 1991 of the magazine "Colors", signed again by Benetton-Toscani, sold in forty countries and translated into four different languages. In the same year sees the light "Fabrica", a study and Research Center focused on communication, which includes graphics, film, photography and much more. In recent years the Chairman of the Benetton group is also elected to the Senate in the Republican party. The Term is named runs from 1992 to 1994. In November 1999 then the Group also enters into Società Autostrade, another deal that proves a winner. It does so through a subsidiary company belonging to the family, Edizione Holding, the holding company Schemaventotto. Join in Olivetti and Telecom services, through a series of climbs that reveal the economic strength. In 2000, however, he left the Formula 1, yielding the automaker Renault. On 10 October 2006, during the celebrations of the fortieth anniversary of the brand, Luciano Benetton leaves the Presidency to his son Alexander. From 1 June 2007 the leader of the group there is the ceo Gerolamo Caccia Dominioni. By 2008 Benetton begins to expand in India and Mexico. Also the Italian company also in 2008 reaches agreement with Sears, leading group in the distribution and known for its warehouses. The commercial development of United Colors of Benetton brand is now guaranteed to every corner of the world. Meanwhile, according to the most recent estimates, Benetton is present in approximately 120 countries.
Article contributed by the team of collaborators.