The Fashion Brand Who Won the F1 World Championship

Why did this t-shirt manufacturer buy a Formula 1 team, and did they actually know what they were doing?

Much has rightly been said about the recent surge of interest from the fashion world in Formula 1 - the growing overlap between the two fields is one of the most thrilling aspects of the sport's modern era and is helping the series to engage with fans in ways it never could before.

From the luxury fashion houses of Louis Vuitton and Dior to high street stores like Reiss and Abercrombie & Fitch, and many in between, clothing brands have been queuing up to form deals with Formula 1, its teams, and its drivers. While the range and level of interest is certainly a new phenomenon, it’s worth remembering the fashion houses that have previously dabbled in F1 - and one in particular did much more than just dabble.

United Colours of Benetton first entered Formula 1 as a sponsor of the Tyrrell team in 1983, before jumping ship to join fellow Italians Alfa Romeo for 1984 and 1985, again as a sponsor. Midway through 1985, a season that would prove to be so painful for Alfa that it would prompt them…