Ponzano, 8 June 2011 - Benetton Group consolidates its management and creative structure with the appointment of You Nguyen, United Colors of Benetton’s new Chief Merchandising Officer and Creative Director. You Nguyen will adopt an integrated merchandising strategy to deal with all aspects of the brand: from the collections to brand identity and including in-store architecture and mood. In this way, he will contribute to the evolution of an icon of Italian taste, based on colour, design, quality and a unique eye for detail.

“I joined Benetton Group in order to contribute to an incredible brand like United Colors of Benetton, which operates in more than 120 countries”, said You Nguyen. “The brand’s future depends chiefly on its staying loyal to its identity, on its solidity and time-honoured ties with such values as design, architecture and innovation. I think my “foreign” sensitivity will help to see and interpret that future through new eyes so we present it to the world’s new generations with well-founded pride in the past and a renewed vision of the future”.

“I am very pleased to welcome Mr Nguyen,” commented Alessandro Benetton, executive deputy chairman of Benetton Group. “I believe his international experience will help us to write a new chapter in our story of innovation so we may continue to be prime movers in the economic and social geography of the upcoming decades – not least through a consistent integration of on-trend fashions and dependable quality and prices. We want Benetton to be an increasingly important part of the world we live in, which is why we devote body and soul to our job. We will do even better, that which we already do well”.

A visionary manager in the fashion and clothing industry, You Nguyen joined Benetton from Levi Strauss & Co in San Francisco, where he worked from 2003, becoming Global Senior Vice-President of Merchandising and Design, for Levi’s® Women in 2009.

Born in South Vietnam, he went to school in France and obtained his MBA in the United States. He previously worked in the retail merchandising and marketing sector: at Limited Too, a division of Too Brands Inc. (Ohio); at Lane Bryant, a division of The Limited Inc. (Ohio); for the Bob’s Stores Inc. chain (Connecticut); and with Luettgens Ltd (Connecticut).

You Nguyen is also an accomplished public speaker. He has held seminars at major business schools, like the University of California at Berkley (USA) and Essec Luxury Program (France), and design schools, like the Shenkar School of Design in Israel.