Eldergays: Tell Me About Benetton

Seemed more successful in Europe than the US.

They were woke before there was woke.

I was a teen/20-something in NYC in the 80s, and they were a BFD for a while.

I think their clever marketing (racial/ethnic representation was refreshing at the time) really surpassed the quality of their products: overpriced, really basic knits in bright colors. Then they got really controversial (for the sake of controversy and free press) and it felt like the beginning of the end. None of my peers were wearing them by the early 90s.

I was shocked to see the brand still exists. I haven't seen a store or an advertisement in decades.

I totally remember Benetton in the malls when I was a kid, and of course remember the advertising campaign.

But, I never bought anything there. What sort of stuff was it; what sort of quality? Was it just The Gap with more bright colors? Was it comparatively expensive?

[quote]In 1989, Toscani refocused Benetton's advertising strategy under the "United Colors of Benetton" campaign. The campaign's graphic, billboard-sized ads depicted a variety of shocking subjects, including the deathbed scene of a man (AIDS activist David Kirby) dying from AIDS.[13] Another ad featured a bloodied, unwashed newborn baby with umbilical cord still attached. The newborn ad prompted roughly 650 complaints to the British Advertising Standards Authority, which noted in its 1991 annual report that the Benetton baby ad "attracted more complaints than we have ever previously known."[14] A third ad included a black stallion copulating with a white mare,[15] while an fourth advert showed a light-skinned girl with blond hair hugging a dark-skinned boy whose hair was shaped into devil horns.

I remember some of these. A pretty gross departure from smiling pretty models of different races.

Yes, they were definitely more expensive than say, The Gap. But never designer-expensive.

Benetton is a perfect shorthand for how America and Americans thought they had somehow outgrown racism, but really just patched over the obvious scars without doing any of the harder work underneath.

They were very popular when I was around junior high age, along with Esprit. I was surprised to see both brands still had retail stores in Europe a few years ago, as they virtually disappeared over here. I would say the quality is comparable to J. Crew. I bought a sweater I liked, but lost it in a move at some point.

Pretty models. Basic knits in primary colors.

I was born in the 80's, but by the 90's (when I actually cared a thing about clothes at all) they were still fashionable in unfashionable Florida at least. Relatively pricey yet very casual junk if memory serves. The store was similar in it's bare layout and design to the Gap but cost about 3 times as much. Lots of sweaters, t shirts and sweats in mostly primary and literal colors with the logo printed across the chest. They sold the cheapest "made in Italy" clothing available, but were still very expensive and the clothes often started falling apart after the first wash. Polo Ralph Lauren came before, never went away and likely never will. They competed in a similar customer demographic - more formal and preppy than Benetton, but roughly the same price. Abercrombie came along later and basically sunk what was left of Benetton's popularity in that price range. That about sums up my memory of the store.

MUCH better quality than Gap before they went downhill. I bought my favorite suit there for 300 ten years ago. Their stuff used to be made in Italy--but then they went production to eastern europe, and it went downhill fast.

I always regret not buying a second of that suit. Because I am trying to preserve it for as long as possible, I only wear it to funerals.

The beginning of using progressivism as a marketing tool for for the young. I hate capitalism - but corporations have been ahead of the politicians in promoting progressivism and change,

I wanted to be friends with all of them.

(I must admit--this stuff is fun but even uglier than I remembered it.)

I hear their catalogs are now collectibles. Think I saved one.

It was considered highly chic and expensive with only the most affluent students in my public high school being able to afford it. Of course, this was in Ohio...

R10 here again.

I only bought a suit and blazers there--so I don't know if their knitwear fell apart in the wash. (I have to dryclean the stuff I do still have of theirs.)

Some of their models were not very good looking.

Benetton was woke before woke was a thing.

R10, I almost bought a suit a Benetton in like 2007. I knew I liked their quality, and my grandmother wasn't going to live much longer. I ended up buying a DKNY suit at Off 5th before her funeral, and probably should've gone with the Benetton one.

Side Note: I think all these recent threads starting with "Eldergays: Tell me about ______" are college or grad students doing unpaid studies on us. Or this could even be someone from Benetton corporate doing a brand study. Just FYI to be careful what we're sharing. On that note, I kick everyone at Benetton in the cunt bone, I hope you all die in a grease fire, and a big, "Mary!" for good measure.

My elder bought many sweaters there...they were all made in Italy and good quality.

I have a 26 year old Benneton suit in my closet and it still looks amazing. Their quality used to be very good back in the days, definitely nothing like GAP. And my suit was made in Italy.

They were far too expensive for my paltry budget.

I had a navy suit that I adored. It was on sale but still pretty pricey for my wallet.

Were they the ones who put the ad out of Ronnie Reagan with Kaposi’s Sarcoma?

The Limited had a knock-off line of Benetton. It had some Italian name. I am 54 yo, I remember the Benetton ad campaign. It was huge.

I buy something from Benetton every season. Their stuff fits me perfectly. They're still big in Italy and my town in Italy has a nice big store as well as a Benetton for kids.

Their sweaters for which they were once famous for have gotten really crappy though. But their pants are nice and I love the fit. And I usually wind up buying a polo shirt or two for the summer. Again, the fit is great for me. For the winter they always have nice puffer type jackets with a slim fit.

But Italy now has chains like OVS and Coin which are much like Benetton.

Benetton should have become Italy's H&M or Zara but it really fell behind. I don't know why that happened, or what the story is there.

In Texas malls, Benetton stores were relatively small and didn’t carry the amount of stock nor selection that Gap stores carried. I had the iconic white cotton rugby with the Kelly green Benetton logo across the chest/torso. I recall they were one of the first stores to carry unisex colognes. I recall receiving some as a gift back in the day.

The cutting edge of yuppie fashion.

R25, I used to live near the Coin in Rome.

Zaras and H&M are garbage.

Actually, though, Coin is a department store that sells lots of different brands. I didn't think they made any of their own clothes under their own brand name.

I moved to NYC as a teen in late 1987. For the first couple years I was there, Benetton was EVERYWHERE. The joke used to be that there were more Benettons in NYC than (pick any kind of store that would offer services or sell things people really needed). It felt like there was one on every corner. As the years went on, that morphed to the Gap, then Duane Reade drug stores. But for about 4 years, Benetton was a NYC punchline. I don't know anyone who shopped at one.

r13 There's a show dedicated to people like you.

I would imagine that what happened to all other mid-quality stores happened to Benetton. The 2010 recession hit, and we lost loads of retail shops. And then, manufacturing moved to cheaper places and quality product degraded.

People are so much poorer now than before the 2008-2010 recession. And the kind of young people who used to buy Gap, J Crew, and Benetton--that age group--now has massive student debt and stagnating salary growth.

For all the DL likes to josh "elderdays," I am so happy that I missed being in the millennial generation (by a year!) and that I was able to get on the property ladder before things went too crazy (pre-2008). I know so many people, just three or four years younger than I am, who live with their folks still, are college-educated, work "normal" professional non-profit jobs.

I also know dingbats who work in the same kind of jobs, make the same money as the first group, but are in their 50s, so bought houses now worth 600 or 700k for 100k in the mid-90s.

It's weird.

In the 80s they had cool sweaters that were definitely more expensive than gap and had much cooler, 80s like designs. Some were iconic (if you saw someone you knew it was a Benetton).

They did kind of mesh with elements of Esprit (the colorful sweaters) and Swatch. It was an aesthetic of primary shapes and colors that was entirely new at the time.

One of my dearest wishes at that time was to have a United Colors of Benetton beach towel, a true status symbol. And that great logo.

I think the transition to the 1990's, and more specifically, the 20th anniversary of Woodstock in 1989, did a real number on American popular and clothing culture. Suddenly, everything became "backward looking," and retro and a throwback to some other time (even grunge was built on vintage/thrift store clothing).

The Benetton aesthetic, which was current-and-future looking, became quickly (and ironically) passé.

Also - I don't believe Benetton clothes were licensed to other retailers. They were only ever sold in Benetton branded stores. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I never saw Benetton sold anywhere but in Benetton shops. If the company was burdened with a lot of real estate, this might have had something to do with the failure of the brand, especially once garment industry margins started to come way down in the mid-to-late 90s.

Benetton had a magazine in the early 90s that was sold in their stores. It had male nudity and as a horny teen in those pre-Internet days I used it as whacking material.

United Colors of Benetton.

Looking back now their advertising promoted globalization where people from all over the world come and work together ... for profit. Embracing each other's differences while wearing United Colors of Benetton. The controversy, turning the fashion line in a lifestyle brand for a united world ... just like United Colors of Benetton bringing the world together ... for a price.

I remember they had one catalog where on some pages the models were completely naked, like full frontal naked, including a cute male Caucasian one. That was a big deal back in the 90s. And it was way before Abercrombie & Fitch started their Bruce Weber adverts era or Calvin Klein's Obsession advertisments.

To me, their sweaters were too adjacent to Bill Cosby's on The Cosby Show for me to ever consider wearing them.

R18, I'm wearing your suit :)

I so love the tailoring--the darts at the waist. Such a step up from J. Crew.

Jean, I also never saw the brand in any department stores.

Haha, R37. The knitwear travesty known as Alexander Julian.

r36 here. Just found the cover of the issue and the blond guy on the cover was the one I mentioned.

[quote] I didn't think they made any of their own clothes under their own brand name.

They used to make their own COIN branded menswear and I assumed they still did. I just looked at their website out of curiosity and it seems that it is a thing of the past. It is in fact all other brand names now.

IMO, the quality of Benetton clothing was good. The prices were a little high.

Remember how everything was folded in very neat stacks? After you looked at something, a sales person would refold the item.

The store always drew me in there. I reality, I bought very few items from Benetton.

Kind of like Braniff Airlines in the 70s.

I remember going into a Benetton Store not far from Astor Place (NYC) around the year 2000 (definitely pre-9/11), and was shocked that it still existed. I think I even bought a sweater (in a solid, inoffensive pastel, just for some context) because I was delighted that I could finally afford it.

A sad shadow of its former self.

Toscani's photography style for Benneton was a direct rip off of fashion photographer Bill King for the designer Enrico Coveri.

I used to live at the Gap on 8th Street and Broadway. God, that whole stretch of Broadway back then was a glorious place to shop. The Gap, The Wiz, Shakespeare & Co Books, Tower Records, The Strand, Woolworths, and the many vintage clothing stores.

All gone now r47.

I still love Benetton. I like the bold colors and their clothes fit me better than US brands do. They have narrower shoulders and longer arms. I have ordered a few sweaters and have been disappointed by how thin/light they are since I prefer heavy knits, but I still love the style of Benetton clothes. GAP looks very blandly American to me, and Benetton fits better and comes in candy colors.

Like the person above, I also got my favorite suit there about 12 years ago. I sadly outgrew it. I was in great shape when I bought it. The salesperson guessed my exact size and it fit me perfectly off the rack with no alterations.

And isn't it wonderful!

Only sold in their stores.

I never saw the magazine though! Would love to see the full frontal of that blond guy!

The magazine was called COLORS and it was quarterly, IIRC. They always snuck in a few gude buys with cock and ass on display in every issue. The magazine was about different world cultures and tolerance and diversity and all of that stuff, but as a horny teen all I cared about was the cock and ass. Back in those pre-Internet days you had to take male nudity any way you could get it, as I'm sure everybody on this thread can remember.

[quote] They always snuck in a few gude buys

Of course that should've been "they always snuck in a few NUDE GUYS." Sorry!

I want to see the guy on the right at R52's cock! Google is not helping ;(

Death of David Kirby ad (1992)

Benetton of the late 90's/early 2000's had well tailored clothing. Like someone said upthread, if Benetton fit you, it looked amazing. It was pre-designer type price range, a notch up from J-Crew and Banana Republic. Now I love Theory which is basically Benetton. Very, fitted, basic colors and it either works for you or it does not.

I agree with R56.

The one thing J Crew is good for--for me, at least is that compared to other brands (Banana Republic, Brooks Brothers), at the same sizes, J Crew gives you an extra half inch in the bust area for women's shirts.

IRCC, Benetton was the first multicultural ad campaign. And shit, did they lay it on thick!

This ad was controversial because of the angelic blonde girl and the devilish black boy.

I had one of their classic rugby shirts in navy blue, back in the mid-eighties. It was fairly expensive back then, and the quality was good. My sister actually ended up working in one of the stores, in an upscale urban area. I think she liked working there, and she did well. I don’t ever remember wanting, or getting, any additional clothes from them.

Their sweater dresses were all the rage with teen girls in the 80s. They were very popular in their prime. Ads were everywhere.

I agree R61. In fact, "sweater" anything and everything really seemed to be Benetton's bread and butter - well into the 90's. I don't know what the big sellers were company-wise, but in my part of the country - sweaters were the primary Benetton clothing type that I remember seeing and remember being purchased by most male and female kids in my age group. Guess Jeans (in tacky washes with that tacky triangle on the butt) and Z Cavaricci (100 belt loops and "parachute" baggy legs - ughhh..)were two of the fashionable choices for men's pants while Benetton mostly seemed to be sweaters and sweatshirts in loud colors and often with logo. Lots of girls wore the sweater dresses of course. A distant second in popularity were the polo style shirts and t shirts. I don't remember Benetton pants being a popular choice at all - not when really tacky, loud options from the above brands made a more of a "statement" for your money LOL.

When I went to Venice in the late 90s there was a Benetton on each corner. Now, navigating the streets and pathways of Venice is very hard to begin with, but was completely impossible using the stores as a landmark. It was like being in a house of mirrors, but with repeating Benetton stores.

Maybe because I lived in NYC (1988-2006) where and when there many interesting shops and stores I avoided the seemingly boring corporate chains like Old Navy, Banana Republic, The Gap, Benetton, Forever 21... and no one I new ever shopped there.

During college in the early 80s the Fashion Merchandising majors, who were very hardcore S&M (stand and model), worshipped at the alter of Benetton as the apex of fashion and commerce. One classmate went on to work in one and moved up to management and achieved his ultimate dream.

What was his ultimate dream?

(And why am I up at 3:30am to be asking?)

R66 To work in upper management at Benetton of course! I would say go to sleep, but I don’t sleep at night anymore either. It’s like subconsciously I’m convinced if I can stay awake through the night I will live another day. At most I sleep in about 3 and 1/2 hour shifts during the day.

[quote]The Limited had a knock-off line of Benetton. It had some Italian name.

Forenza. I used to manage a store back in the day.

You know, I think the brand Rowing Blazers has taken certain elements of the Benetton cachet and is using it at a higher price point. It's got more of an eclectic English vibe than Italian, but it has a similar "rainbow preppy" thing going on.

I first learned about Benetton when I went to college in the mid-80s. I had a roommate who worked in the store in my college town, and spent all his earnings on employee discounted Benetton sweaters-over 70 when I once counted them in his room. They were all rather garish—lots of jewel tones and big patterns. Not my style at all and seemed quite overpriced.

The Bennetons in Atlanta used to line people up outside the door and only let a few shoppers in at a time. It was sad when their quit being a line out the door and they eventually just closed.

Bahahahahahaaa You can buy a vintage Benneton rugby shirt on eBay for $270.

I used to buy their v-neck sleeveless sweaters—lambswool, I think—in the mid-'80s, and I would wear them over various plaid shirts I bought in lots of places. There was always some jewel tone color thread in one of my shirts that those sweaters would pick up. My favorites were a ruby red and an emerald green.

I shopped at the store just below Dupont Circle, and would head from there to the Gap or to Britches.

The colors they used always reminded me of Garanimals.

Those clothes look pretty damn garish and ugly in retrospect. Hugely popular in the late 80s/early 90s, though.

Everyone on US college campuses had the blue version of the rugby shirt for about 2 years: 1983-85.

By the time the ad campaigns came out, the brand seemed more on its way out.

R48, The Strand still exists, although the pandemic has left them in dire straits.

I knew Benetton in the mid 80s, before the famous ad campaigns and their turn to primary color patterns and general boldness. Their aesthetic was post-punk or new wave, whatever you called the suburban cool kids then. The quality was good, but that was expected from chain stores then; it's only in this century that quality has gone to crap and Gap t-shirts are these shapeless, almost see-through rags where they used to be well-made, well-fitting items.

Lived in L.A. when it was popular. Never owned a piece. Was into Club Monaco and Bullock's Wilshire sportswear at the time.

[quote] ..are college or grad students doing unpaid studies on us. Or this could even be someone from Benetton corporate doing a brand study.

R18 is a conspiracy theorist.

They were popular, but I remember Marithe & Francois Girbaud being a bigger deal. Girbaud was my fave - although I would probably be aghast at how much my parents spent on some of those clothes in today's dollars.

R80 - blast from the past! I had totally forgotten about Marithe & Francois Girbaud. I was given some of these clothes as a 11 yoa by a rich aunt and seemed to remember really liking them, but by the time I was a teen who actually cared at all about clothing - Guess, Benetton and Polo were the main staples that I would spend my summer job money on. I can't remember what Girbaud was really known for? DKNY was pretty huge at some point too in it's early days before going so down-market. Ditto Calvin Klein Jeans. And Oakley sunglasses.

I remember this ad of a human femur bone freaking me out more than the one of the guy dying of AIDS.

[quote]would head from there to the Gap or to Britches.

Ooh, I remember the Georgetown Britches. Nice clothes; excellent service.

R83 By the shop bottoms in the dressing room?

So, I know “bene” means good in Italian, what does “tton”mean?

The Benneton Family who owns the clothing company had a Formula 1 Team at that time, making the brand très chic.

Not sure if this has been alluded to, but if not, you're slipping, bitches. One of Benetton's out-there ads - doubtless very selectively placed - featured rows of multinational penises.

This was around the time when Mapplethorpe and Gilbert & George had brought cock much more to the artistic fore. In fact G&G's use of colour was very Benetton. Different times indeed.

Didn't it even get a shout out on one of the earlier series of AbFAB?

I recall blowing my clothing budget on their Sisley line, along w/ clothes from Matinique, another brand still around but not much of US presence

I liked the brand but it was too expensive for me in HS. I did get a few hand-me-downs. The sweaters were decent quality and I liked the colorful patterns and designs. It was not slut-wear, more of a preppy kind of thing.

The anecdotes about spending summer-job or babysitting money (or allowances) on chic teen clothing really take me back. I had NO spending money as a teen and would always covet my friends' preppy, sporty clothing from some of these brands. The 80s were so label-conscious!

Nowadays, teens can go to Old Navy or Forever 21 or other lower-end retailers as well as the high-end options. Aren't there a lot more inexpensive options nowadays? As a teen I don't remember any cheapie equivalents back in the 80s. (Sears? Kmart? There weren't even any nearby.) And the idea of vintage/used clothes would have been out of the question at the time.

R91 - vintage and thrift store clothes defined the 80s! You mixed it with the other things you bought at the store.

You must not have been into New Wave or Punk or any alternative music scene then. Everyone cool bought oversized old stuff from thrift stores and made it their own.

Funny, I was listening to Billy Bragg the other day and one song has these lines:

Like a bully boy in a Benetton shop

You're never happy with what you've got

Til what you've got has gone...

What R92 said. Vintage clothes were key then.

Some of you bitches need to learn what primary colors means, it only refers to Yellow, Blue and Red.

About vintage clothes, which made up the majority of my wardrobe, after all I was in art school during the early 80s. My mother was completely horrified that I would wear clothes from Goodwill and Sal’s, as we called the Salvation Army, over J.C. Jenny’s, Sears or Kmart, which I wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole. I also inherited beautiful military jackets from various uncles who fought in the Korea War, an especially beautiful Eisenhower jacket that made me look like a million bucks.

My favorite aunt, who was divorced, had a closet full of her ex husband’s clothes, part of the divorce proceedings was that it had to appear he had abandoned her and leaving clothes behind somehow fit that bill. He had been an incredibly snappy dresser in the 60s and I got those clothes. I was known throughout my campus for wearing a classic white Sinatra Dinner Jacket and a wide lapel black tux jacket around campus. I had a few beautiful shirts and vests, I didn’t have many pairs of vintage pants back then, I usually wore trendy ones fro Chess King that added the New Wave/Punk element mentioned about, as did my haircuts and colors.

When I moved to NYC after graduating, there was a whole host of vintage clothing stores to scour and it was the height of the market and amazing things were flooding into the store. Of course the price quotient that had made it so easy to dress that way increased ten fold as well.

R96 - we said Salvation Armani.

The thrift stores in NYC I remember being EXTREMELY overpriced. Like $15-$20 for an old worn out shirt that would be $1.50 anywhere else. I found NY thrift stores depressing and lacking.

Pretty In Pink is a good example of thrift store 80s clothing.

The infamous Reagan with AIDS ad.

I couldn’t be bothered to shop in one of their stores. I chose to instead dazzle those who saw me by shopping at Fashion Bug and Dress Barn.

Late last year, Benetton announced they were experimenting with a new kind of store concept in the U.S., as they created what they called a "Pop Up" store - a store in a retail shopping area that would only be in place for about a month:

[quote] A grand return: United Colors of Benetton is launching its first American Pop-up shop after more than four years of absence from the United States. The Pop-up event will last four weeks, from October 25th to November 24th, 2019, at the Santa Monica Place, in Los Angeles.

[quote] At Santa Monica Place clients will be able to discover and try some select pieces presented during Milan Fashion Week FW 2019, part of the new collection designed by Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, and buy them immediately on the us.benetton.com online shop.

R95 - that I why I referred to their line and primary AND literal colors. The shades that they chose were not subtle hughes, but very loud (and yes, plenty of hunter green used as well).

A Subtle Hugh

Sorry for the multitasking which resulted in my bad grammar above. Let me try that again - "that is why I referred to their line as both"

I got a United Colors of Benetton Barbie for my birthday in 1993! Being from suburban Sydney I had not heard of the brand, I wanted Rollerblade Barbie.

R103 Oh god no, did you see him on that Death to 2020 monstrosity, he has not subtly left at all.

R105 Dude, you were supposed to want Earring Magic Ken, that’s the gay one. And did they really keep Barbie as her name down under? Doesn’t that basically mean “grill” in Australian?

If they were smart they should have gotten the patent on all flag manufacturing and it would have sustained them for life.

Shiny happy people of all backgrounds against a white backdrop.

For people my age the latter part brought “Sleeper” to mind but I realize I wasn’t their demographic.

Blast from the Past I bought the UCoB Barbies (and Ken) and REM's Out of Time with some gift money I got. The dolls had layers of clothing which you could switch with the other UCoB dolls (except UCoB Ken, of course who looked way too old for that type of fashion, like, the ultimate DLer, a Palm Springs eldergay).

They were cheap. Looked and felt cheap. I had a couple of sweaters.

[quote] vintage and thrift store clothes defined the 80s! You mixed it with the other things you bought at the store.

Ahem...

Where did all the fluorescent colored clothes fit in?

When you'd get dressed up for an "80s party" when I was in college in the mid-00s, that was one of the more popular costumes--a head band and sweatshirt in the same color palate highlighters come in. (Those pens you used to use to highlight textbooks)

R113 It came in when you were woken up before you GoGoed.

[quote]I recall blowing my clothing budget on their Sisley line

Benetton and Sisley shared the Benetton store in my hometown mall in the 90s with Benetton having slightly more than 1/2 of the space, I liked Benetton but preferred Sisley.

I loved Benetton in the earlier aughts, when I was a teenager employed at a co op grocery store. Their clothes looked good on me and still do, but what doesn't when you're full-blown anorexic

[quote]I shopped at the store just below Dupont Circle, and would head from there to the Gap or to [bold]Britches.[/bold]

I used to love Britches, I shopped at the one in Georgetown and the one in Montgomery Mall.