For the past nine decades Safilo Group has been creating, producing and distributing sunglasses, prescription frames, outdoor eyewear, goggles and helmets. In recent years the company has undergone a significant turnaround — to continue to drive revenue recovery and development forward.
Over time this strategic move has transformed the business by creating a balanced and resilient portfolio. Through its acquisition of the perpetual license for Eyewear by David Beckham in May 2024, Safilo Group announced the major milestone of a 50/50 split of business between its home and licensed brands.
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This reflects the deliberate and strategic journey of Safilo Group to build a business model that is simultaneously adaptable and solid. Each brand plays a role in a diversified portfolio that covers all market segments. The approach, Safilo Group said, is not only driven by diversification but also a larger vision to strengthen its long-term competitiveness by maintaining a clear identity and its enduring values.
And through this hybrid format, Safilo operates on a variety of levels to consolidate creative autonomy through its own brands while maintaining strategic alliances with leading fashion houses, strengthening its presence in the premium and lifestyle segments.
Angelo Trocchia, chief executive officer at Safilo. Courtesy of Safilo Group
Looking ahead, Safilo Group’s main targets are to strengthen its presence across all segments, build on the brand’s positioning as a global high-end women’s eyewear leader and support the latest exclusive licenses acquired.
Here, Fairchild Studio sits down with Angelo Trocchia, chief executive officer at Safilo, to get a glimpse into the company’s position in the marketplace, Safilo’s current strategy, the balancing of both home and licensed brands within its portfolio, emphasizing opticals alongside sunglasses and more.
Fairchild Studio: What is Safilo’s current positioning in the market?
Angelo Trocchia: Safilo stands out as a strong and forward-looking player in the eyewear industry. Its turnaround is driven by the agility of its business model and diversified portfolio, which leverages the core know-how while staying closely aligned with global market trends.
This combination enables long-term competitiveness, supported by a clear identity and the creation of lasting value.
Safilo has worked to create the right offer for all distribution channels, for all customer types, with a particular focus on the contemporary segment, where the highest demand for eyewear is. The portfolio now has a balance between home and licensed brands. Home brands account for around 50 percent of the broad-based product offer, which spans genders, ages, categories and price segments with the aim to appeal to every consumer, ranging from fashion-driven to more functional consumers with more traditional needs.
At Safilo, we are focused on anticipating trends and responding to consumer expectations and desires. For example, through our deep interest in the sustainability sector.
Courtesy of Safilo Group
Fairchild Studio: How does Safilo’s strategy to focus on home and licensed brands make them competitive in the premium and lifestyle sectors of eyewear?
A.T.: Our main goal is always to design collections that anticipate trends and that are either the perfect fit or that can adapt to different market requests to ensure that we are always the best partner to our opticians. We achieve this not only through products, but also by delivering the highest quality of service possible for our business partners.
Safilo has developed a strong digital business-to-business platform to help our customers increase sales and become more efficient, investing in brands with strong growth potential and a deep connection with their audience, combining heritage and innovation with meaningful experiences. We amplify each brand’s unique qualities while integrating them into Safilo’s overall strategy and brand architecture. Moreover, Safilo embraces Artificial Intelligence as a powerful tool to enhance creativity, improve operational efficiency and deliver greater value to our customers and partners.
Fairchild Studio: How does emphasizing optical frames alongside sunglasses for the product mix bring stability to align with consumer trends? What’s the long-term vision for the business?
A.T.: The diversification of the product portfolio provides greater business stability throughout the year. By strengthening the presence of optical frames alongside sunglasses, the brand can mitigate the volatility associated with sun-led categories and anchor growth on a segment characterized by consistent, non-seasonal demand. This balance enables a more predictable revenue stream and supports long-term planning.
At the same time, a broader product mix unlocks the ability to focus on agility, innovation and product personalization.
Optical frames, in particular, offer continuous opportunities for technical evolution, material innovation and tailored fit solutions—areas that meaningfully enhance the brand’s differentiation and relevance.
The focus remains on interpreting and evolving the offering across both optical frames and sunglasses, ensuring that each collection reflects emerging consumer preferences and style trends. This dual approach allows the brand to react swiftly to shifts in taste and lifestyle while maintaining coherence with the broader strategic roadmap. Ultimately, it strengthens brand equity, supports a unified design language across categories and aligns the business with its long-term vision.
Fairchild Studio: What benchmarks and investments are being made to integrate sustainable practices across the product development process?
A.T.: Safilo has made targeted investments to ensure that sustainability is embedded end-to-end in the product development process. Historically, the group has consistently invested in material innovation, and we believe that today, true innovation is the only one that also delivers sustainability benefits.
This approach led Safilo, in 2022, to become the first eyewear company to adopt the full suite of Eastman Renew materials for its collections: Acetate Renew, Tenite Renew and Tritan Renew. Today, the group relies on a robust portfolio of certified recycled and bio-based materials, including Eastman materials, bio-based polyamides and rubber and recycled metals.
Material selection is guided by a science-based methodology supported by life cycle assessment (LCA), at the same time ensuring that sustainability does not compromise quality, performance or aesthetics. This approach preserves full creative freedom for designers and provides consumers with products offering equal or greater value for money.
Since 2022, Safilo has been and still is the only eyewear company to join The Fashion Pact, a global coalition of brands focused on improving their environmental performance.
In line with the coalition’s targets, during the 2023 Capital Markets Day, the group announced the aim to reach 25 percent of new sustainable models by 2025. In addition to product targets, Safilo has validated its corporate emissions-reduction pathway through the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), committing to a 70 percent reduction in Scope 1 & 2 emissions and a 25 percent reduction in Scope 3 emissions by 2030 compared to 2022, with strong progress already achieved.
Furthermore, the group has invested in the digitalization of the product development phase, including the extended use of 3D CAD engineering and rendering to develop prototypes and the acquisition of multiple 3D printers used in combination with the excellent know-how of the Safilo Atelier department. These investments allow for reductions in time-to-market, faster approval cycles and a decrease in material consumption for prototype production.
With this momentum, Safilo continues to advance in its responsible innovation journey that will guide the next phases of its sustainable development.
Fairchild Studio: How is the company leveraging digital channels to strengthen brand presence, expand its reach and connect with consumers in new ways?
A.T.: Safilo’s innovative approach takes shape in a digital transformation strategy aimed at improving the relationship with customers and stakeholders in general, who value high-quality products and authentic brand experiences.
One of the key milestones is the development of customer-oriented B2B and business-to-consumer platforms that are specifically designed for digital sales to integrate and complement the traditional, well-established wholesale model while enhancing efficiency and overall customer experience across all touchpoints.
Online channels continue to account for around 15 percent of the group’s sales, in a year marked by further growth of Smith’s direct-to-consumer business and of European internet pure players. Among physical channels, Safilo has continued strengthening its position in independent optician stores — thanks to the steady growth of the prescription frames business and efforts to build customer loyalty and provide continuous service.
Furthermore, Safilo has signed an agreement for the acquisition of a minority stake in Spaarkly — a digitally native company that specializes in developing innovative e-commerce solutions using augmented reality technologies. By simply scanning a QR code, users are offered a fast, immersive and enjoyable purchasing experience that links virtual and physical media touchpoints.
To learn more visit safilo.com.