World Braille Day

4 January 2002 is World Braille Day.
The world will commemorate a groundbreaking step forward – the adoption of the Braille system – that enabled millions of blind and visually-impaired people to read by touch and therefore to lead a more independent life. In 1825 Louis Braille invented a writing code that could be translated into every language around the world: an alphabet of 63 letters and symbols each of which is formed by a pattern of from one to six raised dots arranged on a six-position grid. Each letter has a different pattern that can be 'read' by the fingertips.

Benetton, sensitive, as always, to the needs of “real” people - its advertising campaigns are proof of this - celebrates World Braille Day with a simple yet meaningful gesture: a series of T-shirts with words written in Braille. Some will bear theUnited Colors of Benetton logo, others will indicate their colour, e.g. blue, yellow, red, black and white.

This is a joint operation involving the Benetton Group and Chris Kay International, the British company that first successfully devised a system for printing Braille on textiles, Lextra® Braille.

Lextra® Braille, a totally new system based on the silk-printing technique, consists in using 0.75 mm-high Lextra® Microfibre flock instead of ink. The flock is welded (by a 50,000 V electrostatic current) to a film that can be transferred to any fabric. A safe, long-lasting system that also has a pleasant feel.

Chris Kay International with its Lextra Braille and Benetton with its stores and megastores around the world will honour 4 January 2002 through the sale of the World Braille Day T-shirts. The agreement between Chris Kay International and Benetton provides for a donation to the World Blind Union.

More than words, a way of remembering.

 

For further information:

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