Luciano Benetton says he’s stepping down as chairman of family-run brand as losses top $100 million

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

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

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

The northern Veneto region-based clothing brand, known as much for its colorful knitwear as its once-flashy advertising campaigns, has struggled against competition from fast-fashion brands, with unions estimating that the company’s losses group since 2013 are 1,000 million euros. Benetton has undergone numerous creative and managerial relaunches in an attempt to regain its footing.

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

Edizione, whose president is Alessandro, son of Luciano Benetton, has various interests including transport and infrastructure through Mundys, and 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 motorway bridge it operated in August 2018, which killed 43 people.