United Colours Of Benetton Views

General Goods

The company's core business remains their clothing lines. Casual clothing is marketed as the United Colors of Benetton ; there are also a fashion-oriented Sisley division, Playlife leisurewear. Their products include womenswear, menswear, childrenswear and underwear and they have expanded into toiletries, perfumes, and items for the home such as kitchen accessories and baby products.

The company is known for sponsorship of a number of sports, and for the provocative and original United Colors publicity campaign. The latter originated when photographer Oliviero Toscani was given carte blanche by the Benetton management. Under Toscani's direction, ads were created that contained striking images unrelated to any actual products being sold by the company.

Benetton achieved 967 million euro in sales of its brand United Colors of Benetton Adult , that is 51% of the total sales in 2009. Another 31% of sales have been achieved through sales of the brand United Colors of Benetton Kid , that is 601 million euro. The third highest percentage of 16%, that is 300 million euro grossed the Sisley brand. The Playlife brand grossed 37 million euro.[15]

While United Colors of Benettonors"s ad campaigns tend to cultivate controversy (remember those Sentenced to Death portraits glaring from bus stop shelters?), the clothing consistently skews safely business casual. When the company grew from globally-themed boutique chain to global behemoth in the mid-1980s, its practical pieces and vivid solid colors became omnipresent, the Gap khakis of their time. Benettonlrs"s Manhattan locations continue to stock office-ready staples in clean, open spaces that let the bold garments pop. Not a big fan of tangerine? Chances are the same linen blouse, satin skirt, or cotton polo you rs"re after can be had in several colors from the season_rs"s chosen palette. (Benetton designs only two collections a year, so stock doesn rs"t change all that often.) emdash; Kate Jacobs