Benetton

"Benetton’s headquarters weren’t actually in Venice, but a forty- minute drive to the north in the tiny town of Ponzano. It was here that Luciano Benetton had grown up in the tough, post-war years with barely enough money for food. It was also here, in 1955, that he had sold his accordion and bought the family’s first knitting machine. Almost half a century later, the Benetton family controlled a multibillion-dollar fashion and industrial empire. These were people, I felt sure, who would understand what we were trying to do."

"office. He looked tired. “OK. This is the deal. He wants a discount for being the lead investor.’ This seemed fair enough. LVMH was a prestigious name whose support would guarantee our reputation in the market. Tellio wanted a 10 per cent stake for $3.8 million, instead of the $5 million we were asking. More importantly, he wanted a 25 per cent discount for investing in the next funding round. This meant that if boo’s pre-money valuation was $100 million, LVMH could buy shares at a level of $75 million. Tellio had us. He knew that Benetton wasn’t ready to sign yet. And he knew we were running out of time."

"from Benetton’s internal advertising agency, United Colors Communications, flew in to meet with us at J.P. Morgan. There had"

"After a short drive through beautiful, strikingly flat countryside, our car drew up outside a pair of gates. Looking around, all we could see were isolated farms, but we had reached the nerve centre of the Benetton empire. The centrepiece was the Villa Minelli, a gleaming white sixteenth-century mansion that had been built as a holiday home for a wealthy Venetian silk merchant. When the Benettons had bought the villa in 1969, it was on the verge of collapse. The roof had caved in and chickens wandered through its damp hallways. Now, set in lush gardens and covered with bright frescos, it was a stunning sight."

"In an extremely lively productive fabric, the excellences emerge. The Benettons, in Treviso, build the empire of the sweaters that will lead them to become one of the most influential holdings in the country with the privatizations of the nineties. It all begins with a yellow sweater that Luciano Benetton has knitted by his sister Giuliana; from that sweater is born the king of sweaters. "It was all there for the taking, you just had to have an idea, hope for luck, fear nothing," Luciano tells Natalia Aspesi in Repubblica on the occasion of the group's fortieth anniversary, in 2006."

"Inditex is the only company, among the big ones in the apparel sector, that is fully vertical; GAP and H&M, for example, design and sell, but do not manufacture, and Benetton designs and manufactures, but their sales outlets are franchised."

"As a "School for Life," Le Rosey is one of the most prestigious educational institutions in the world. Prince Rainier III of Monaco, Shah Reza Pahlavi of Persia, Crown Prince Alexander II of Yugoslavia, Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, King Albert II of Belgium, King Fuad II of Egypt are among the alumni. But also the offspring of Elizabeth Taylor, John Lennon, and Diana Ross attended school here, and the heirs of family dynasties such as Rothschild, Benetton, Rockefeller, Onassis, and Niarchos shared the dormitory rooms."

"As a "School for Life," Le Rosey is one of the most prestigious educational institutions in the world. Prince Rainier III of Monaco, Shah Reza Pahlavi of Persia, Crown Prince Alexander II of Yugoslavia, Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, King Albert II of Belgium, King Fuad II of Egypt are among the alumni. But also the offspring of Elizabeth Taylor, John Lennon, and Diana Ross attended school here, and the heirs of family dynasties such as Rothschild, Benetton, Rockefeller, Onassis, and Niarchos shared the dormitory rooms."