Carlo Benetton, co-creator of UCB, dies at 74

Carlo Benetton, the man behind the famed international brand United Colors of Benetton, died on Tuesday. He was 74. He breathed his last at his house in northern Italy.

In 1965, Carlo founded the United Colors of Benetton in Ponzano Veneto with his brothers Luciano and Gilberto and sister Giuliana. Synonymous for its signature wool jumpers, the company saw itself in a series of controversial ad campaigns by Italian photographer, Oliviero Toscani that ran between 1982 and 2000.

One such ad from 1989, showed an African-American woman breastfeeding a white baby. For more than a decade, the brand’s sales have come to a halt due to heavy losses. This has forced 80-year-old Luciano Benetton to come out of retirement and undertake the reins of the company again.

The company also saw hurdles because of an overvalued Italian currency during the 1990s and also due to a lack of interest in its sweaters, a report in Forbes stated.

In an interview last year, Luciano Benetton had termed the company’s downfall as ‘an intolerable pain’ and vowed to bring back the brand’s lost glory again.

As of July 2018, Carlo Benetton’s net worth exceeded over $3 billion, as stated by a Forbes report. He is survived by his four children. May his soul rest in peace.