Fashion
Benetton Group rejigs corporate structure to kick off label’s relaunch
Translated by
Nicola Mira
Published
October 9, 2025
Italian fashion group Benetton continues its corporate reorganisation process designed to optimise its relaunch, having completed a first restructuring phase. According to Italian financial daily MF-Milano Finanza, which was able to glean some of Benetton’s internal documents, the group based in Ponzano Veneto “has created seven newcos (all based at Benetton’s corporate hub in Castrette) among which, following a complex partial double demerger and spin-off operation, various assets and corporate functions have been divided up.”
Seven new companies, which will become operational next January, have been created following the group’s internal reorganisation. Benetton Group has become the coordinating holding company and will always have the final say on financial, legal and auditing decisions. In July, Benetton indicated that the group’s corporate structure would be revised, with some units turning into separate companies, though they would still remain under the group’s direct control.
The current reorganisation has brought to an end the first phase of Benetton’s relaunch plan under new CEO Claudio Sforza, who replaced Massimo Renon in June 2024. Sforza has jettisoned a vertically integrated business model, deciding to close the production sites Benetton had in Tunisia, Serbia and Croatia, while in Italy, the workers formerly based at the Ponzano Veneto headquarters were moved to the nearby Castrette di Villorba factory. At the same time, several hundred employees voluntarily left the group, encouraged also by the incentives offered. By the end of 2025, the group expects to have approximately 700 employees, as opposed to 1,100 in summer 2024. Benetton is also ditching unprofitable stores around the world. Approximately 500 of them are being closed down, bringing the number of stores operated by the group to nearly 3,000.
Benetton’s goal is to further reduce its losses, which in 2024 amounted to €100 million (more than 57% lower than in 2023) and to become profitable again some time in 2026 or 2027. The group doesn’t have much to be cheerful about in 2025, coincidentally the year in which it celebrates its 60th anniversary, having been founded in 1965 by Luciano, Gilberto, Giuliana and Carlo Benetton.
MF-Milano Finanza reported that Benetton is open to the use of third-party suppliers, and is willing to consider both corporate spin-offs and industrial collaborations with select entities.
A partial demerger from Benetton Group resulted in the creation of the Retail Omnia Network (RON) and Property 347 companies. RON incorporates all of Benetton’s directly owned Italian stores (currently part of Retail Italia Network) and the stores run by the group’s foreign subsidiaries. Benetton Group still retains direct control of its retail business in Turkey, India, Korea, and Japan.
Property 347 will take over Villa Minelli, the group’s former headquarters, Benetton Fabrica, and other properties and land between Ponzano Veneto and Villorba, regarded as heritage assets to be preserved rather than destined to operational use. As a result of the partial demerger, RON and Property 347 will remain, as Benetton Group, under the direct control of Schema Eta, formerly Benetton S.r.l., whose board comprised, until April 2024, several members of the Benetton family, including founder Luciano Benetton.
As a result of the demerger and spin-off operation, Benetton Group now controls five other new companies: Green 347, Benetton Operations, Benetton Distribution, Benetton Logistics and Benetton E-commerce.
Benetton Operations, under CEO Vincenzo Meles, will take charge of the group’s operational activities, including design, product development, marketing and communications. Benetton Distribution, under CEO Nicola Capone, will oversee the retail distribution business, including Benetton’s franchised stores, while Benetton E-commerce and Benetton Logistics (the latter led by Matteo Miele) will take care of e-tail and warehousing and logistics respectively.
CEO Sforza has ambitious plans for Benetton E-commerce, since he reportedly regards the group’s online sales as too low at 13% of total revenue, compared to a global benchmark that is close to 35%. Benetton is keen to accelerate e-tail growth, and is aiming for online sales to account for 20%-25% of total revenue, as the group stated last April in a communiqué gleaned by FashionNetwork.com.
Finally, the Green 347 company, named after the colour and corresponding Pantone code of the group’s original logo, directly overseen by Sforza like Benetton E-commerce and Benetton Logistics, will manage the group’s trademarks, Benetton, Sisley, Playlife and Killer Loop.
Copyright © 2025 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.
Published
December 1, 2025
A running specialist is all set to drive growth in Eastpak‘s bags business. VF Corp’s luggage brand, a major player in the backpack market in France and across Europe, has appointed a new global brand vice president. Marie Gras, who has served as vice president for running at the French sporting-goods giant Decathlon for nearly two and a half years, is leaving Hauts-de-France to join VF Corp’s Antwerp offices. From Belgium, the group operates Eastpak as well as Kipling (led by Domitille Parent, who previously headed Eastpak).
For Marie Gras, a first challenge looms with last weekend’s reopening of an Eastpak flagship on London’s Carnaby Street. The store is located at 35 Carnaby Street and spans two floors. The brand opened its first-ever store on the London thoroughfare in 2008, in a 170-square-metre space.
Marie Gras helped implement Decathlon’s recent running strategy, in one of the world’s fastest-growing sports. Through its dedicated running brand, Kiprun, Decathlon has launched a running app and, notably, formed agreements with partners in new territories to develop Kiprun spaces beyond its own Decathlon stores. Previously, the executive spent almost eight years at Adidas, most recently overseeing the brand’s activities and events in Paris, one of the key cities in the brand’s global visibility strategy.
Eastpak is one of the luggage brands owned by the VF Corp group, which is currently streamlining its operations. The group also owns Kipling, to which it has given fresh momentum in recent months, as well as JanSport, focused on the US market. Eastpak, which benefits from numerous collaborations with designers and mass-market licences, such as Diesel and Gremlins, was founded in 1952 under the name Eastern Canvas Products. In France and Western Europe, it holds a key position among lower- and upper-secondary students. However, across the functional backpack category as a whole (excluding hiking backpacks), the French brand Cabaïa has gained market share in recent years and now claims category leadership in France.
For Eastpak, the challenges are therefore to scale up its entire bags and luggage range and to strengthen its competitiveness against emerging European players in various markets, such as Rains, Ucon Acrobatics, Qwstion, Kapten & Son, Tucano, Ferrino, Ecoalf, Lefrik, and Sandqvist.
This article is an automatic translation.
Click here to read the original article.
Copyright © 2025 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.
The rating agency said the government’s latest fiscal package is broadly in line with projections made when it affirmed the UK at ‘AA-’/Stable in August but said that the path to consolidation is becoming more challenging.
Fitch Ratings has deemed the budget marginally deflationary, sees debt rising above 106 per cent of GDP by 2027.
The agency said the UK budget broadly aligns with its August deficit projections but signals of rising implementation risks due to back-loaded tax measures and tight spending plans.
New taxes total £26 billion (~$34.37 billion) by FY29, while social spending rises further.
Fitch said the budget’s new tax measures represent £26 billion (~$34.37 billion), or 0.7 per cent of GDP, by fiscal 2029 (FY29), with threshold freezes contributing £8 billion (~$10.57 billion). New Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) data show general government net borrowing projections 0.2 percentage points (pp) higher on average in 2026–2028 than in March, before falling 0.2 points in 2029, Fitch Ratings said in a release.
Fiscal data since summer remain broadly in line with Fitch’s forecast for the general government deficit to narrow by 0.6 pp in 2025 to 5.3 per cent of GDP and then to 4.4 per cent in 2027, around 0.7 points slower than the government’s new targets.
The agency highlighted material uncertainty around implementation, particularly given the challenging expenditure consolidation outlined in June’s Spending Review, which the budget largely preserves. Real-terms public-sector current spending growth has been tightened further in FY29 to zero, averaging 1.2 per cent in FY26–FY28 compared with 3.4 per cent in FY24–FY25.
Fitch noted that many tax measures are highly back-loaded, coming into effect closer to mid-2029, the latest possible timing of the next general election. A large portion of the tax plan also consists of numerous smaller measures, making the overall impact less transparent than the broader income tax rise the government signalled before the budget. Options to raise further revenue are politically constrained by 2024 election pledges not to increase personal income tax, VAT or National Insurance.
Still, Fitch said Chancellor Rachel Reeves is demonstrating firmer commitment to the fiscal rule than recent predecessors. Last year’s decision to shorten the rolling forecast horizon from five to three years from 2026 has reduced the scope to delay real fiscal adjustment. Aligning fiscal plans more closely with three-year spending reviews also makes it harder to rely on unrealistic spending cuts to fill fiscal gaps.
Budget headroom has increased from £12 billion to £22 billion, around 0.6 per cent of GDP, but Fitch said this remains limited and constrains efforts to improve policy predictability.
Revenue projections have been reshaped by a £16 billion downgrade in expected tax receipts due to lower OBR productivity assumptions, reducing average GDP growth in 2026–2029 by 0.3 pp to 1.5 per cent. Upward revisions to inflation and wage growth more than offset this decline. The OBR’s updated medium-term GDP growth outlook is now closer to Fitch’s trend estimate of 1.4 per cent, of which total factor productivity contributes only 0.3 points.
Although sustained high nominal gilt yields represent a significant fiscal risk, the UK’s long average debt maturity of 13.7 years helps contain projected debt-interest requirements, which Fitch expects to rise modestly to 7.4 per cent of revenue in 2027 from 7 per cent in 2024.
Fitch projects modest GDP outperformance in the near term compared with its August forecast of 1.2 per cent for 2025, although a weakening labour market poses a small downside risk to its 1.2 per cent projection for 2026. The agency judges the budget as marginally deflationary and expects inflation to fall to 2.4 per cent by end-2026.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (HU)
Published
December 1, 2025
Global athletic brand New Balance has expanded its brick-and-mortar footprint in the Bengaluru metro area and opened its doors at three new locations: Indiranagar, HSR, and Forum South Bengaluru.
“We are excited to deepen our presence in Bengaluru- with our stores at Brigade Road, Indiranagar, Forum Mall, and HSR, anchoring us in a city that embodies innovation, culture, and an unwavering passion for fitness,” said New Balance India’s country manager Radeshwer Davar in a press release. “This weekend’s in-store experience and community run allowed us to bring New Balance’s philosophy to life while reinforcing our commitment to building inclusive fitness communities and we want to thank the people of Bengaluru who turned up in great spirit.”
Highlighting its long-term commitment to the Indian market, the new outlets are designed to offer an immersive retail environment and mix craftsmanship with technology. New Balance held an exclusive in-store event at its Indiranagar store, featuring an interactive brand showcase of both footwear and apparel. The New Balance Run Club also put on a community run which saw participation from over 200 individuals.
“Over the past year, we’ve more than doubled our retail footprint in India, and these three new stores are a strong testament to that momentum,” said Davar. “For us, it’s not just about expanding retail locations- it’s about creating experiential centres that bring innovation, performance, and style together under one roof.”
Headquartered in Boston, US, New Balance has been independent since 1906 and employs 10,000 associates worldwide. The business reported a global sales total of 7.8 billion dollars in 2024 and counts five athletic footwear factories in New England, US and one in Flimby, UK.
Copyright © 2025 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.
Geoffrey Boycott advises England to ‘use brains’ for Ashes remainder
Wake Up—the Best Cyber Monday Mattress and Bedding Sales Are Here
Sean Diddy Combs docuseries raises expectations with new bombshell
-
Sports1 week agoWATCH: Ronaldo scores spectacular bicycle kick
-
Entertainment1 week agoWelcome to Derry’ episode 5 delivers shocking twist
-
Politics1 week agoWashington and Kyiv Stress Any Peace Deal Must Fully Respect Ukraine’s Sovereignty
-
Business1 week agoKey economic data and trends that will shape Rachel Reeves’ Budget
-
Tech6 days agoWake Up—the Best Black Friday Mattress Sales Are Here
-
Politics1 week ago53,000 Sikhs vote in Ottawa Khalistan Referendum amid Carney-Modi trade talks scrutiny
-
Fashion1 week agoCanada’s Lululemon unveils team Canada kit for Milano Cortina 2026
-
Tech1 day agoGet Your Steps In From Your Home Office With This Walking Pad—On Sale This Week