NEW YORK — Oliver Peoples, the luxury Los Angeles-based eyewear firm, has appointed former entertainment executive David Schulte to be its first president and chief executive officer.
Schulte, 36, who takes over on Monday, said there are no set plans to grow through opening boutiques or internationally. The focus will be on design, the company’s current retail distribution and improvements to customer service. Any expansion of the brand will be “controlled,” he said.
“It’s a unique luxury brand that encapsulates a lifestyle, prestige and luxury image on a global basis,” Schulte said.
Schulte was most recently a managing partner of The DCS Group LLC, a boutique fashion and entertainment private equity firm whose advisory business included work for LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Richemont and Jovovich-Hawk. Schulte previously was a partner and president of brands at The Firm, a music and talent management company.
The hiring of Schulte is part of Oliver Peoples’ strategy since being acquired by Oakley Inc. in February for an undisclosed sum. Oakley ceo Scott Olivet said then that the company would grow the Oliver Peoples business as well as add a luxury component to flagship brand Oakley’s sports-inspired offerings. Oakley has since acquired luxury retailer Optical Shop of Aspen, Colo., which has 16 U.S. stores.
Larry Leight, 55, who founded Oliver Peoples in 1986, will stay as chairman and creative director. Peoples also produces Paul Smith Spectacles and Mosley Tribes, a sport luxury eyewear brand that launched in 2005. Peoples has four U.S. boutiques and one in Tokyo. Its eyewear retails from $210 to $420, and the brand has wholesale distribution in 45 countries.
Leight said Peoples has more potential in Europe and Asia. “For 20 years, it’s been a lot of work in so many areas, and we’ve gotten to a point where there’s so much to do now,” he said. “The operational stuff is distracting from what I love to do the most — the creative and the visionary stuff. Our team has all the experience we need in the optical world. We need David to execute.”
There have been talks of growing into product areas such as activewear and other categories with Mosley Tribes, though nothing is set, executives said.
Related Articles
You May Also Like
“All three brands are very complementary to each other,” Schulte said. “Mosley is a street-inspired fashion brand. It’s very unique in its personality. It creates a nice family of brands.”
One thing is certain — exclusivity. “We prefer to remain as exclusive as we can be,” Leight said.
Oliver Peoples was a rare success story among independent firms in the eyewear industry, where designer licenses rule as companies like Safilo, Luxottica, Marcolin and Marchon hold a major amount of designer licenses, from Gucci to Ralph Lauren. Successful boutique designer brands like Robert Marc are hard to come by, and smaller conglomerates such as B. Robinson Optical, Base Curve and Sama are gaining headway by signing licenses with Lacoste, Carolina Herrera and Badgley Mischka, respectively.