All C-Suite Interview articles – Page 2

  • Bliz Eyewear
    Article

    Bliz Eyewear launches rebranding after EssilorLuxottica takeover

    2024-12-18T15:19:00Z

    A specialist in sports eyewear, ski goggles and helmets, the Swedish brand Bliz Eyewear was acquired by the EssilorLuxottica Group in January 2024, joining the company’s sports portfolio and adding a new entry-level price point. This portfolio also includes the sports eyewear brands Oakley and Costa. But Bliz has actually ...

  • 999.9_Kyoto Gion
    Article

    How brick-and-mortar focus and vertical integration are driving JEH profitability

    2024-12-17T14:02:00Z

    Upgrading its full-year outlook, the Japan-based retail group is now forecasting a 19 percent topline growth and a 31 percent operating margin. We ask JEH’s CFO about the drivers behind the group’s fast growth. 

  • VANNI ORIZZONTALE
    Article

    ‘We try to be responsible’

    2024-12-05T09:49:00Z

    Alessandra Girardi, head of sustainability and co-owner of Vanni, tells us about how the Italian SME’s sustainability approach is rooted in local production and supply chain, internal commitment and outside expertise, and LCA calculations. 

  • 334A1088
    Article

    Eyewa secures $100m cash injection, plans to open 100 new stores in the Middle East next year

    2024-11-29T02:15:00Z

    Competition in the Middle Eastern optical retail market is going to intensify further as eyewa, the fast-growing direct-to-consumer brand, just announced that it has raised $100 million in a new financing round to accelerate its store network expansion. The round was led by General Atlantic, a global investor with approximately ...

  • 230228_MORROW_EYEWEAR_01_17454
    Article

    “The last thing we want to be is a product for geeks,” Morrow Eyewear CEO

    2024-10-10T06:01:00Z

    Morrow Eyewear just launched the third generation of its liquid crystal multifocal glasses. CEO Frederiek Ysebaert explains the recent upgrades and discusses the startup’s mid-term roadmap in terms of product development and distribution. 

  • Berton TP3_8690_IzL7HdGs
    Article

    Italian eyewear industry “strong and resilient” amid market slowdown

    2024-10-04T08:12:00Z

    Italy’s eyewear industry has seen signs of a slowdown this year, but it is holding up remarkably well. That is clear in Belluno in Italy’s Veneto region, at the heart of the country’s eyewear production district, where factories are operating at full capacity and looking to grow. Lorraine Berton, the ...

  • ICARE GROUP Frame 1I7A9402
    Article

    Hong Kong-based Icare to open eyewear factory in France

    2024-09-13T03:13:00Z

    Icare, the eyewear manufacturer based in Hong Kong, is investing over €5 million in the building of a new eyewear factory in France, which will complement its industrial structure that currently includes production sites in China and Cambodia. The new facility will be established in Vendôme, a small city in ...

  • Lens Lab_3_CR unlimited_Riguad (3)
    Article

    Innovation, digitization, sustainability and selective retail on 60 year-old Silhouette’s agenda

    2024-09-05T05:44:00Z

    Silhouette celebrates its 60th company anniversary with product innovations while focusing on qualitative retail distribution, digitization, sustainability and independence. 

  • Pic Head office_2
    Article

    Tokai looks to expand commercial and industrial footprint outside Japan

    2024-08-07T02:27:00Z

    Limited by a gradually shrinking domestic market, Japan-based lens manufacturer is looking abroad for growth, notably in the US and the Middle East. 

  • jfrey campaign
    Article

    J.F. REY new owners look to balance brand DNA and changes while navigating supply chain issues

    2024-06-06T10:06:00Z

    Almost three years after the acquisition of J.F. REY by a Franco-German trio of investors including Dan Levi and Ralf Kmoch of Visibilia, and Walter Pirinoli of Visioptis, we sat down with the French executive to discuss the evolutions and future strategic orientations of the Marseille-based designer eyewear brand. “While ...

  • OBE Vietnam _ (002)
    Article

    Hinge specialist OBE Präzision adds Vietnam to industrial base, invests in smart eyewear and 3D printing

    2024-04-29T01:06:00Z

    On the heels of the group’s investment in Italy, where it acquired OMM, a supplier of metal components for high-end eyewear manufacturers, we sat down with Erik Schäfer, CEO of OBE Holdings, mother company of hinge specialist OBE Präzision. “As a supplier of key components to the eyewear industry, ...

  • FLO Materials 1
    Article

    US startup picks eyewear market as launch pad for infinitely recyclable plastic material

    2024-04-17T02:28:00Z

    As the world is grappling with an ever-growing amount of plastic waste, of which less than 10 percent is being recycled, our attention was brought to a California-based chemical start-up that claims it can produce an infinitely recyclable alternative material to high performance plastics. And, somewhat surprisingly for such a ...

  • 12273_mp09_63136
    Article

    New management structure and increased retail focus for MPG

    2024-04-04T02:39:00Z

    Following the death at the end of 2023 of Dr. Michael Pachleitner, its founder and CEO, the eponymous MPG (Michael Pachleitner Group) is entering a new era of its history with a new management structure and a strategic focus on the development of its retail business unit. We sat down ...

  • Mazzucchelli-MIDO24-Macro-NewPossibilities
    Article

    ​Mazzucchelli takes further steps on sustainability journey

    2024-03-12T08:33:00Z

    Mazzucchelli 1849 is building a new factory in its hometown of Castiglione Olona in northern Italy, set to be opened in the second half of this year. Giampietro Pedrazzini, CEO, spoke to us recently about how that facility fits into Mazzucchelli’s plans to reduce its environmental footprint, along with other ...

  • Paris Miki
    Article

    Store network upgrade, digitization and HR key to Paris Miki rebound

    2024-01-24T11:02:00Z

    Like all well-established Japan retailers across all sectors, Paris Miki is facing an apparently unsolvable equation: finding sustainable growth in a country where the population is forecast to decline by approximately five percent every ten years. While many of these companies are heavily investing to develop their business abroad, particularly ...

  • GV
    Article

    “We need to train the eyewear factory workers of the future”

    2024-01-04T10:53:00Z

    During our previous interview with Giovanni Vitolani in December, the president of Mido also shared some thoughts on the state of affairs in the Italian eyewear district and at ANFAO, the Italian eyewear industry association which he led for six years until December last year. “As anticipated after a solid ...

  • MIDO005
    Article

    Mido, ANFAO put CSE front and center in 2024

    2023-12-15T06:19:00Z

    Just a few weeks before the opening of Mido 2024, we sat down with Giovanni Vitaloni, president of the event, to talk about what exhibitors and visitors should expect for this next edition but also more generally about current and future strategic focus areas for the organizers. In the second ...

  • magrabi dubai festival city_010
    Article

    Magrabi aims to consolidate regional leadership before entering new markets

    2023-11-30T09:56:00Z

    Following up on our article last February about the expansion of MAGRABI Retail Group, the leading optical retailer in the Middle East region, we talked with Yasser Taher, who was appointed CEO of the family-owned group at the start of this year, after having served as Chief Operating Officer since ...

  • Vision Group_GG11999_BASSA
    Article

    An optical center in 15 minutes and a new investor for Vision Group

    2023-11-23T10:07:00Z

    Vision Group, one of Italy’s leading eyewear retailers, aims to expand its domestic footprint further before looking at eventual growth opportunities further afield. Marco Procacciante, CEO, talked to Eyewear Intelligence about Vision Group’s growth plans, which are aimed at serving 85 percent of the Italian population with a VisionOttica store ...

  • foto-gruppo
    Article

    iVision Tech CEO details group’s strategy

    2023-11-06T02:01:00Z

    Still a relatively newcomer in the Italian and international eyewear sector, iVision Tech has gathered a lot of attention from the industry in recent months with the company’s debut on the Euronext Growth Milan stock exchange this summer and the acquisition of French high-end eyewear maker Henry Jullien just before ...