Milan, 15 April 2014. ON CANVAS, United Colors of Benetton’s new concept store, will open its doors April 15, in Milan’s central Piazza Duomo. This is an entirely Italian project - in terms of style, design and elegance - that offers an innovative structure, designed to be comfortable, functional and dynamic. A new store concept that makes the product the real protagonist of the historic brand, whose story has a new chapter to be written – or, rather, to be weaved.

At times we need to look back to our roots in order to be true innovators. This idea served as the inspiration for the architectural concept: a tribute to the knitwear that has been and will always be central to the history of United Colors of Benetton but with a glance to the future, creativity and Italian spirit of the brand’s style. The central element of the 1,500 square-metre store is the frame, which serves as a lightweight, simple but solid and almost invisible structure in which seasons, collections, colours and materials are created. The frame, which is a symbol of tradition and craftsmanship, becomes a symbol of innovation enabling transformations within the store: changing the canvas materials, the canvases themselves, the spaces creates infinite, possible solutions for a brand that is always developing.

The presentation of such a radical new concept could only take place in Milan, the Italian fashion capital. The vibrantly creative city, which is “home” to other major fashion names and Italian stylists, hosts the brand that was the first to make the excellence of fashion accessible to everyone, through the use of quality materials, workmanship of the garments, attention to detail and design. In the new concept store, the product is always the protagonist and the customer loses himself, immersed in an experience that transcends that offered by an ordinary shop.
Urban, sophisticated, smart, young: consumers of all tastes can find a space, canvas or product to satisfy their desires in this new setting.

The desire to be ahead of the times has always been part of the United Colors of Benetton DNA. This is why inside the new concept store in Milan there is another, larger store: the online store, an "infinite shelf", on which customers can – for the first time in Italy – shop from their tablets directly in the store itself, which means every size, colour and pattern is always available for purchase. The technology in this On Canvas sales point goes even further, becoming sensory. Futuristic projections involve the public in the exhibition area of ​​the Color Room, showing looks and combinations starting from the very basic, such as the brand's “revolutionary”, colourful knitwear.

Putting people at the centre of everything. Reinventing – with Italian flare – as soon as possible. ON CANVAS is just debuting but it is already a new ambassador for the United Colors of Benetton identity. It proves that Benetton is an Italian brand par excellence that doesn’t limit itself to designing fashion for the public, but puts the client at the centre of an experience developed around design, technology and emotions.

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