Benetton: a name so synonymous with controversy in recent years that it has offen been impossible fo see beyond fhe lurid imagery through which it has achieved such notoriefy. Yet this is a family, a business and a brand which has never been more adept than when re-inventing itself. No other name embodies so many apparently contradictory qualities, or has quite fhe abilify to charm and shock, to both subvert and preach conformism, to blend radicalism with conservatism. Benetton is fhe real-life, rags-to-riches story of an extraordinary family and fhe business they have built from humble origins into a skilfully orchestrated global phenomenon. The Benettons were a bereaved Italian family who faced poverfy in a land ruined by World War II, and set about distinguishing themselves from hundreds of thousands of their kind. Today they supply 8,000 Shops in 120 countries selling everything from soft fabrics to coloured Condoms - and have their own Formula 1 motor racing team. Theirs is a saga of endeavour and success, hard work, outrageous invention and calculated risk-taking - and of terrorism, adultery, public outrage, court hearings, alleged Mafia connections and scandal. In telling their story, Jonathan Mantle reveals evidence of darker shades and looser threads behind the united colours and the seamless brand. Marginalised associates, aggrieved franchise-holders, nervous investment banks and envious advertising agencies speak of the price of this success, and of the threats that continue to be posed to the company`s Status at the front line of the retail world. The portrait which emerges is of a brilliant and resourceful family business where the heart of Catholicism meets red-blooded capitalism in its purestform. Benetton has until now exercised almost obsessive control over information about itself as a matter of policy. Jonathan Mantle is the first Outsider to have penetrated this barrier. His book is therefore uniquely placed to provide a revelatory yet remarkably balanced insight into how a retail giant has become a cultural icon.
