Luciano Benetton announces he is stepping down as president of the family brand as losses exceed $100 million

MILAN (AP) — Luciano Benetton, co-founder of the clothing brand, announced he was stepping down as president in an interview published Saturday in Milan daily Corriere della Sera. He blamed current management for the 100 million euros ($108.5 million) losses he discovered last year.

Benetton, 89, returned to the clothing brand as chairman in 2018, after stepping down in 2012. He blamed the losses on a CEO hired in 2020 and his new management team.

“In short, I trusted them and made a mistake,” Benetton said. He said he first became aware that the losses were piling up last September.

The clothing brand based in the northern Veneto region, known as much for its colorful knitwear as for its once splashy advertising campaigns, has had to battle competition from fast fashion brands, with unions estimating the group’s losses since 2013 at 1 billion euros. Benetton has undergone numerous creative and managerial relaunches to try to regain its footing.

Benetton’s mandate expires in June, coinciding with the chairmanship of the board of directors of the Benetton family holding company, Edizione SpA, which is expected to appoint new management.

Edizione, whose chairman is Luciano Benetton’s son Alessandro, has various stakes, including in transport and infrastructure through Mundys, and in food and beverage retail, including the Autogrill chain, through Dufy.

The family holding company sold its stakes in Autostrade per l’Italia SpA after coming under intense political scrutiny following the collapse of the Genoa road bridge it operated in August 2018, which cost the life to 43 people.

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