Gilberto Benetton

Co-founder of Benetton

Born: June 19, 1941;

Died: October 22, 2018

GILBERTO BENETTON, who has died aged 77, was one of the four founding siblings of the Benetton fashion brand that became known as much for its provocative advertising campaigns as its colourful knitwear. At the height of its success in the 1980s and 90s, the brand ran ad campaigns featuring, among other controversial images, a priest kissing a nun and a man dying of Aids.

Gilberto – along with siblings Carlo, Luciano and Giuliana – founded Benetton as a knitwear company in 1965, before transforming it into a global brand that sustained steady growth in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, only to suffer from competition from fast-fashion in the 2000s. The company has since gone through multiple relaunches and management changes over the last decade or so.

Gilberto was there at the start, with responsibility for the accounts. He was born in Treviso, north of Venice, in 1941, and was the third of the four children. Their father died in 1945 when the children were all under 10 years old and the eldest Luciano later had to work in a shop to help out. The idea for their business came when Giuliana started knitting colourful jumpers and they opened their first shop in Belluno in 1965, followed a year later by an outlet in Paris.

By the 1980s, they were one of the most popular and successful fashion brands in the world with ad campaigns that challenged racial, religious and gender stereotypes, often courting controversy.

Some of the most provocative included an image of Pope Benedict XVI kissing an imam, which angered the Vatican, while humanitarian groups protested earlier this year against an advert that contained photographs of migrant rescues.

In recent years, the family have became increasingly involved in financial investments through the Edizione holding company, which Gilberto was instrumental in creating 30 years ago.

He remained Edizione’s deputy chairman and chairman of one of the key investments, the Autogrill highway and airport restaurant concession, until his death.

The family’s investment in Austostrade per l’italia has come under intense political scrutiny following the collapse of the Genoa highway bridge in August, which killed 43 people.

The Italian government has pledged to revoke the highway concessions granted to Autostrade, alleging that poor maintenance contributed to the disaster.

While the cause has not yet been determined, prosecutors have identified managers of Autostrade among the more than 20 people under investigation.

Fabio Cerchiai, chairman of Atlantia, the infrastructure company that controls Autostrade, and Autostrade chief executive Giovanni Castellucci praised Gilberto for his great entrepreneurial vision.

The family said Mr Benetton’s wife, Lalla, two daughters, Barbara and Sabrina, and son-in-law Ermanno were by his side at his home in the northern city of Treviso, near where the fashion company is based.

The family also lost Carlo, the youngest of the four siblings, who died in the summer at age 74.