2024 is a big year for Silhouette. As the Austria-based eyewear company celebrates its 60th anniversary it is also recognizing 25 years of its popular Titan Minimal Art collection. Renowned for its “passion for perfection,” the family-owned business continues to intrigue discerning consumers with its ongoing commitment to excellence and sustainability through innovative, comfortable and quality lenses.
Making an early impression on the world, the Titan Minimal Art collection has long been a favorite particularly for outer space travelers. Providing astronauts with reliable vision in space for nearly 25 years, the glasses have been revolutionary in the eyewear industry with their near-weightless and rimless design and endless customizable options.
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Since its origin, the collections have evolved over time to meet the needs of its consumers with lens enhancements, personalization options and a wide range of styles. Silhouette’s latest update of the 25th-anniversary Titan Minimal Art collection continues to push the boundaries of modern eyewear.
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Here, Michael Schmied, chief marketing officer and third generation founding family member at Silhouette, goes deep with Fairchild Studio, discussing the brand’s achievements, its enduring family values, adaptation to eyewear trends, meeting consumer demand and more.
Fairchild Studio: Congratulations on 60 years! Can you tell us about how Silhouette has carried its passion from its start to remain a leader in the eyewear industry today?
Michael Schmied: Silhouette is incredibly proud to celebrate such a momentous milestone this year. In 1964, my grandparents Anneliese and Arnold Schmied combined their visionary mindset and global perspective as they introduced the world to Silhouette. They started with only five employees and the extraordinary designer Dora Demmel. As a family-owned and operated company in its third generation, Silhouette has become the undisputed global leader in premium, rimless eyewear with an innovative approach to design, production and sustainability.
While Silhouette has seen tremendous growth over the past 60 years, our original values and traditions have remained at the core of our brand’s DNA. Silhouette has become synonymous with minimalistic, lightweight, high-quality eyewear that always delivers a perfect, tailored fit. Our success has been built off our passion for perfection, along with our dedication to absolute precision, visionary design and innovative production advancements.
As a family business, we think long-term. A family is inherently a sustainable construct that naturally thinks from generation to generation and not from balance sheet to balance sheet. Our financial independence has allowed us to make independent decisions over the years and take responsible action before making quick profits.
Fairchild Studio: What are some of the key milestones and achievements?
M.S.: One of our first groundbreaking innovations was in 1983 when Silhouette introduced our patented, high-tech polyamide material known as SPX®+. The “S” stands for “Silhouette,” the “P” for “polyamide” and the “X” for our design nomenclature. The “X” also stands for exclusive material adjustments to reach even more outstanding material properties. SPX®+ is the most innovative plastic material on the market for eyewear frames. No other material offers the same degree of lightness, look and feel, precision, elasticity, strength and versatility that we require in a polymer compound. SPX®+ offers the highest degree of functionality and comfort. It also opens the door to limitless design possibilities and provides an exceptional canvas for radiant color with the addition of a fine pigment powder. Surfaces can be finished with imprints, varnishes or metallic embellishments.
One of Silhouette’s most celebrated achievements is the 1999 launch of the Titan Minimal Art rimless eyewear collection. This groundbreaking invention revolutionized the entire eyewear market and ushered in a whole new era of design. No other pair of eyewear has ever caught the world’s attention in quite the same way. With a weight of a mere 2 grams, Titan Minimal Art is crafted from high-tech titanium without hinges or screws. This world-renowned design has been worn by more than 12 million people, has won 18 design awards and has been worn by astronauts in space for the past 25 years. This year, we’re excited to launch the next generation of Titan Minimal Art, paying homage to the Titan Minimal Art Collection and 25 years of space travel.
Another proud achievement in Silhouette’s legacy is the 2017 launch of our in-house, Austria-based Lens Lab and 100 percent Silhouette offering, which uniquely positioned us as a full-service eyewear supplier offering our customers frames, lenses and service in a single package. The new lab enables us to make precision lenses to match our frames exactly. With 100 percent Silhouette, every finished pair of eyewear is tailor-made to its wearer, all done with precision craftsmanship. From optional colorful tints to a hand-applied Color Groove lens contour, 100 percent Silhouette offers endless possibilities to truly make each pair of eyewear a one-of-a-kind masterpiece.
Fairchild Studio: How has Silhouette adapted to the changing trends in the eyewear industry over the years? How do you ensure the brand remains committed to quality and sustainability?
M.S.: When developing new collections, minimalism is at the center of everything we do, ensuring our products can be heirlooms passed down from generation to generation. This approach allows for customization with limitless potential to be at the forefront of design. Our eyewear is all about feeling light in all facets. In a world where trends can be fleeting, we empower our wearers to make timeless choices that become part of their individual style. We also take our commitment to sustainability very seriously and try to keep the footprint of our products as small as possible.
We use as little material as possible in all our product lines and continuously improve processes to avoid waste—without compromising on quality and comfort. For the past few years, we have been able to reduce our emissions by 50 percent. In September 2022, we reached the goal of reducing emissions in our eyewear production to net zero through external offsetting.
With our sights set on the future, we have a goal to reduce our CO2 emissions to zero without external offsetting by 2027. At our corporate headquarters and our production site, we already use 100 percent CO2-free, sustainable and environmentally friendly electricity. Our energy is generated from natural, renewable sources such as wind, solar, hydroelectric and biofuels and is free of nuclear power. We are committed to investing in clean energy for the future.
Fairchild Studio: As the Titan Minimal Art Collection reaches its 25th anniversary, how has this collection revolutionized the eyewear industry and what do you attribute to its enduring global appeal?
M.S.: To celebrate 25 years of a successful collection is such an incredible honor, and truly reflects the Titan Minimal Art’s timeless appeal. Back in 1999, the pared-back design was ahead of its time, but the collection quickly caught the attention of glasses wearers with over one million pairs sold in the first year. While Titan Minimal Art’s iconic, design has remained at the collection’s core, Silhouette is constantly evolving its intricacies with passion, dedication and meticulousness.
Since its debut in 1999, Titan Minimal Art has grown with over 22 optical and 27 sun collections. This year, Silhouette celebrates its icon with an update—designed for the next generation of visionaries. The 2024 collection combines the best of 25 years while introducing exciting new enhancements to appeal to a new wave of discerning consumers.
We are very proud that our rimless eyewear has been a trusted partner on over 70 space missions so far — a testament to the collection’s reliability, unparalleled wearing comfort and durability under extreme conditions.
The 2024 Titan Minimal Art Collection embodies modern minimalism while offering vision without limits and the empowering feeling of lightness. The highlight rimless models are adorned by an innovative, hand-applied, lens-finishing technique, an enhanced nose bridge and flexible, hinge-less temples that conform to the wearer. The collection offers an assortment of attention-grabbing shapes in bold colors, as well as timeless options for everyday wear.
A new, exciting feature is our “Partial Color Groove” treatment. With this application, the shapes can be highlighted to create a fresh new look—either with accentuated bottom or brow lines or even with split grooves. The freedom to play with shapes and sizes allows our consumers to customize and fine-tune their eyewear to achieve frames with a perfect fit that is highly individualized.
Fairchild Studio: How do you ensure that Silhouette’s eyewear designs remain timeless yet on trend to cater to a diverse customer base?
M.S.: We constantly strive to redefine design standards through a fusion of innovation and style. Our approach integrates state-of-the-art production methods with a dynamic assortment of minimalistic designs that are both modern and classic, along with a blend of subtle and vibrant colors to ensure we have something for every style preference and personality. Our design philosophy, “sensual simplicity,” guides us as we set out to create new styles that transcend short-lived trends.
Fairchild Studio: How do the customization options offered by Silhouette improve the consumer experience and meet individual needs?
M.S.: For the past 25 years, Silhouette has been able to offer a one-of-a-kind consumer experience with endless possibilities for eyewear customization. Consumers have the unique ability to mix and match the many rimless shapes, sizes, temple colors and optional lens tints to create their own customized eyewear.
We’re also very excited to launch “Uniquely Yours” — a pioneering new approach to customization that empowers our account partners to select their preferred lens shapes and frame temples to combine and showcase in their shop. This allows them to perfectly tailor their assortment at the point of sale to meet the unique needs of their business.