After several years of quotation on the Milan stock market, the Benetton family bought back control of the brand in 2012, and fully owns the marque today. It’s most famous scion and clan leader Luciano Benetton is the present chairman. However, Renon holds the management reins of Benetton, which scored double-digit growth last year to close to €900 million. Complete figures will be released later this month.
 
So, here is Renon’s vision of the future of Benetton, a brand that pretty much invented democratic fashion; building brand equity with its revolutionary ad campaigns, decades before fashion became rightly obsessed with inclusivity.
 
“It’s great to open this week as we are benefitting from a moment of incredible energy in Paris. I just landed in Charles de Gaulle and there were lots of flights; and the city is suddenly full of tourists. Of course, it’s not 100% back, but the atmosphere is still great! After this very unfortunate accident it’s great to come back with enthusiasm and energy,” smiled Renon.
 
“We’ve opened all the windows on the ground floor, painted the walls pink, let in much more light, and you can see how beautiful is. It’s a great 800 square meters over three floors,” opined Renon, who oversees the group’s key three brands – United Colors of Benetton, Sisley
 
In France, Benetton has 73 retail doors, with 65 directly controlled,  mostly based in department stores, especially with Galeries Lafayettede Bijenkorf

 
Hence, their retail business model is a mix, even if the brand is vertically integrated with its own factories, and a supply network spread across the Mediterranean, with plants in Tunisia, Serbia and Croatia, along with some knitting still in Italy.
 
“The hardest thing about the pandemic was having to close stores. Many of them for months, while you continued to pay salaries and rents. Fortunately, the family is very much committed to the brand. They regard it as a strategic asset, where they want to invest. So, we feel quite confident for the future,” insisted Renon.
 
At its height, Benetton had annual sales of some €2.5 billion back in 2005, but its revenues cooled throughout the following decade.
 
“It was a combination of things: The new actors – the InditexUniqloH&M

Asked to define the house’s DNA, he responds: “Made in Italy; creation; color; sustainability and inclusivity. That’s been true since Oliviero Toscani
 
As Renon sees it, Benetton was one of the first companies to be serious about the environment; banning all plastic bottles 20 years ago; building all its parking lots underground 30 years ago, to disturb nature less. Way ahead of any idea of recycling, Luciano Benetton was posing naked in ads, asking clients to say “I want my clothes back,” in possibly the first fashion recycling ad.

 
Plus, he promises that by the end of next year, all Benetton garments will carry QR codes with exact raw materials and manufacturing source. Respecting its engagement made when it joined the Sustainable Apparel Coalition
 
He predicts Benetton will be 100% organic by 2025, guaranteeing a silky, eco-friendly finish. For 2021, Benetton will post a double-digit sales rise, and Renon expects that to continue into the future.
 
The brand is on the move worldwide. In China, it has struck a deal with T-Mall to open in July; created a new office in Singapore, and a new network in Australia. It’s going back into the Middle East, where it has been absent for a decade. Beginning by opening stores in  Qatar in time for the upcoming World Cup
 
Finally, in December, it will create a pop-up for Art Basel
 
“The key point is that compared to our biggest competitors, we are outside the biggest markets – America and China. That will change now,” underlined the CEO.
 
These days, the family has greater investments in other areas. Their holding company Edizione is a 10-billion-euro-plus group with stakes in highways, connectivity and mobility.
 
Prior to joining Benetton, Renon worked for eyeglass giant Luxottica