Benetton wants you!

Italians do it bettter and Benetton is living proof of that.

In the 1950s, four siblings – Luciano, Carlo, Gilberto and Giuliana – got their hands on a used knitting machine and began crafting sweaters in their kitchen in Ponzano, near Treviso in the north. Heavy and rather functional, their early designs, like 1958’s Tres Jolie skiwear line, were aimed at people with style but not a lot of cash to burn.

As their clients’ quality of life improved, so did theirs. The venerable entity known as the Benetton Group was formally established in 1965; the family opened its first retail outpost in Belluno the year after.

To expand the business they built from scratch, the founders deliberately diversified. Giuliana, who started out as chief designer, experimented with ways of dyeing single yarn wool, resulting in seamless and reversible sweaters. When other brands were going wild for jeans, they wisely added denim designs to their range of multihued weaves.

Notion Of Color

Today, the name that has become synonymous with the notion of color includes three main clothing lines: United Colors of Benetton, Sisley and Playlife. Present in 120 countries, the group produces over 150 million garments annually, one of the few enterprises that still chooses to manufacture goods in its place of origin.

The empire is safe in the hands of the current generation of Benettons, with executive vice chairman Alessandro – Luciano’s Harvard-educated son – retaining its strong entrepreneurial culture. Under his leadership, Benetton was able to cement strategic partnerships with India’s Tata group, the country’s largest conglomerate, and billionaire Carlos Slim and his Sears Mexico group.

Beyond The Toscani Years

Visually, the company’s advertising campaigns have tackled rather controversial subject matter. During the Oliviero Toscani-led ’80s and early ’90s, Benetton’s promotional material contained images of a man dying from AIDS, a priest and nun about to kiss and inmates on death row. The shock tactics worked but they somehow eclipsed the clothes, which seemed like an afterthought. But all that is set to change.

In line with Luciano Benetton’s belief that “communication should never be commissioned from outside the company, but conceived within its heart,” Fabrica, the group’s in-house research center, has cooked up “It’s My Time,” the world’s first real-time street-casting. Benetton would like to invite young people to enter a modeling competition to become one of 20 faces in the upcoming autumn-winter ad campagn.

Create Those Lookbooks

The contest, which starts on Monday, Feb. 8, will roll out on Benetton.com. Aspiring teens and twentysomethings will be encouraged to create lookbooks and videos that highlight their personal style and upload these on the site to be voted on. Finalists will then be chosen by the general public and an appointed jury and flown to New York for the shoot. The talent search closes on March 18.

In 2000, Supreme’s Tim Yap and The Philippine STAR’s Rissa Mananquil were the first Filipinos to appear in a Benetton ad. Shot by British photographer James Mollison, the billboards were displayed in Times Square and in the brand’s 5th Avenue boutique. There’s a huge chance another Filipino – or two – will make it this time around.

In the riot of high street choices led by the likes of H&M, Zara and Topshop, Benetton hovers slightly below the retail radar. By harnessing technology, however, it puts itself ahead of these upstarts and communicates that it’s more than ready to face the challenges of the 21st century. And by emphasizing its principal and most important characteristic, uniqueness, Benetton is bound to live on – and online.  

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“It’s My Time” begins on Feb. 8. The teaser site is at casting.benetton.com. Follow them at twitter.com/benettoncasting.

For updates, check facebook.com/benettoncasting.

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