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Carlo Benetton, co-creator of 'United Colours' brand dies
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A picture shows the logo of the Italian global fashion brand 'Benetton' in the center of Milan, on July 10, 2018. One of the siblings behind the famed 'United Colors of Benetton' brand has died aged 74, the company said on July 10. (AFP/Miguel Medina)
C
arlo Benetton, the youngest of the siblings behind the famed 'United Colors of Benetton' brand has died aged 74, the company said Tuesday.
Benetton, a father of four, died in his home in the northern Italian city of Treviso.
Carlo Benetton – who founded Benetton fashion group in 1965 with his siblings – has died: https://t.co/KAIM2SnziA pic.twitter.com/BMQDrLImDy
— WWD (@wwd) July 10, 2018
With his brothers Luciano and Gilberto and his sister Giuliana, Carlo Benetton founded 'United Colors of Benetton' in 1965 in Ponzano Veneto, a village in Italy's northeast.
Their signature soft wool jumpers made in a variety of colours quickly seduced the masses.
Read also: Benetton condemned for using rescued migrants in adverts
The company went from strength to strength especially between 1982 and 2000 -- its fame fuelled by daring ad campaigns by Italian photographer Oliviero Toscani such as a 1989 poster which featured a black woman breastfeeding a white baby.
But for over a decade the brand has been hit by dwindling sales.
In 2017, following heavy losses, the 83-year-old Luciano Benetton announced he was coming out of retirement to retake the reins of the company.
In an interview in November 2017 with Italian daily La Repubblica, Luciano Benetton said that witnessing the downfall of the United Colors of Benetton was "an intolerable pain".
He cited straying too far from the company’s signature look as one of the reasons for the company's woes and vowed to relaunch the brand to its former glory.
