UNITED COLORS OF BENETTON

The Benetton Group is one of the best known fashion companies worldwide and is featured on the world’s most important markets with a network of more than 6,000 shops. The company responsibly puts its trust in the future and acts according to the zeitgeist, paying careful attention to ecological concerns, human dignity and social change.

Staying true to its own history which is based on innovation - colors, a revolutionary concept for sales outlets, unique networks for production and distribution, global communication always as a societal phenomenon and cultural discussion - the Benetton Group meets modern globalization’s challenges with continuous investments and a qualified, flexible organization that is conditioned towards change. In order to achieve maximum flexibility in mastering the global change, the group withdrew from the Milan stock market in 2012 to improve internationality, reaction time and competitiveness, to create values and to count on a type of growth that is not autotelic but a means of contributing to progress.

The company has a steady identity with regard to color, authentic fashion, quality products with customer-friendly prices and passion: values that are reflected in the strong and dynamic personalities of the brands United Colors of Benetton and Sisley. The expansion of United Colors of Benetton’s distribution network with locations in best business areas in city centers and shopping malls is supported by extensive worldwide investments. The furnishings of the new shops is highly standardized so that the collections, their colors and their designs are always at the center of attention and that the sale takes place in an attractive, dynamic and interactive setting.

The attention paid to something new passes through all the company’s organizational departments: The systems and set ups of the production structure are completely renewed every five years; the coordination headquarters in Castrette (Treviso) which belongs to the world’s most modern logistics facilities in the fashion industry, communicates with international production plants in Serbia and Tunisia to ensure an efficient supply for all shops.

The ability to be constantly rooted in the world and in society is also represented in Fabrica, the Benetton Group’s center of communication research. Fabrica’s challenge is innovation and international thinking: a type of alliance between culture and industry through a form of communication that doesn’t only use classic advertising but that draws a company’s “intelligence” to other forms of expression: from design to music, from film to photography, from print to internet and the new media. What should be especially highlighted within this context is the quarterly COLORS, which has been taking a keen and passionate look at the rest of the world since 1991.

The Unhate foundation, launched in November 2011 with a worldwide ad campaign, is part of the new strategy of the acceptance of social responsibility by companies, as well as being the headquarter for the concern’s social involvement. This way the company wants to make a contribution to the fight against a culture of hate - just in accordance to the values that are codified in the Benetton Group’s DNA.

This is done by worldwide communication and the organization of concrete projects with a “strong impact” on the global community, especially the new generations, taking into account institutions, international organizations, NGOs and representatives of civil society. The projects, which assume the social role of art and individual self-expression as the root of teaching tolerance, mainly involve young people from the world’s risk areas - from Brazil to India to the Puerto-Rican neighborhoods of New York.

Even though the Benetton Group has taken an international dimension, a strong bond to its home territories remains - the Treviso and Venetia province - which is mainly expressed through cultural initiatives such as the Fondazione Benetton Studi e Ricerche and sport programs. From Rugby sponsorship to the historic successes in Formula 1, the company’s engagement in sports is not only the pursuit of best performance but also has a social character: To connect people, promote their equality and their physical fitness and to spark interest for active sports in thousands of adolescents.