Originally, a technical breakthrough – garment-dyeing technique invented by Luciano and a
dyer from Treviso in 1963 – was the start of Benetton’s development. Traditionally, in the entire
knitwear industry, woolen sweaters were knitted with colored yarn. This could be very risky if the
chosen color was no longer fashionable when the products reached retail store shelves. Moreover, it was impossible to anticipate the customer’s response. In order to avoid this drawback and to increase responsiveness Benetton woolen sweaters were knitted with uncolored natural grey yarn. They were dyed just before shipping time, according to the prevailing tastes at the moment of the sale. This process was slightly more expensive, but it enabled Benetton to manufacture and store ‘neutral’ products, which were finished only a few weeks before they were sold. Of course, this worked only with solid color wool or cotton clothes. It did not allow patterns. Therefore, Benetton’s style did not rest on the cut of clothes – which was very classic – but on vivid plain colors, which were renewed every year. Hence the pun ‘United Colors of Benetton’, which signaled both a multi-racial philosophy and the absence of patterns. In 1992, Benetton knitwear used sixty different shades and casual garments one hundred and fifty.