After the dust settled on another star-studded red-carpet event at the Venice International Film Festival last month, Alessandro Zanardo, CEO of eyewear sponsor Thélios, sat down with Tina Milton to talk business performance, brand development, organisational growth and travel retail.
Alessandro Zanardo, CEO of Thélios - LVMH eyewear excellence
DFNI was recently on location with LVMH eyewear division Thélios at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, as the company marked its third year as the official eyewear sponsor. As a supporter of this event, Thélios celebrated the art of filmmaking and the timeless elegance inspired by Venice.
Luca Guadagnino is seen at the Thelios suite during the 81st Venice International Film Festival at Excelsior Hotel on September 03, 2024 in Venice, Italy. (Photo by Marc Piasecki/Getty Images for Thelios)
Many celebrities and talents were spotted wearing its signature eyewear. These included Italian Film Director Luca Guadagnino and Drew Starkey wearing Loewe Slim, American actress and film producer Sigourney Weaver sporting Celine Bold 3 Dots and American Actor Adrien Brody modelling Barton Perreira.
The feel-good event reflected the optimistic mood at Thélios of late, buoyed by investment across many aspects of the business as it continues to transition and expand. Founded in 2017 by LVMH and Italian eyewear company Marcolin, the name Thélios is formed from blending Greek god Theia (goddess of light and sight) with Helios, (god of the sun). Since LVMH took total control in 2021, the luxury eyewear group has hit the accelerator on growth, from distribution and manufacturing facilities to the addition of new labels.
For example, the acquisition of the former Safilo plant in Longarone, Italy at the end of 2023 bolstered its production capacity for metalworking. The new site (which is under renovation) takes its production scope to over 40,000sq m here, boosting current facilities at the Longarone Manifattura (factory), substantially. This deal followed the purchase of Metallart in July 2022, in line with the company’s strategy to adopt a Made in Italy ethos.
Expansion has continued with the addition of proprietary brands such as French sport label Vuarnet and Californian label Barton Perreira, at the end of last year, joining a clutch of LVMH’s own houses. Thélios designs, produces and distributes sunglasses and optical frames for many of its maisons, including Dior, Fendi, Celine, Givenchy, Loewe, Stella McCartney, Kenzo, Berluti, Bulgari, Tag Heuer and Fred. Thélios is now in a phase of integration and development.
Travel-retail expansion
Travel retail was quite a recent focus because with a young company, as Thélios CEO Alessandro Zanardo points out, “you can’t do everything at the same time.” Headquartered in Milan, there are also teams in the US and Hong Kong.
“For us, so far it is a big success in terms of business but also in terms of visibility,” insists Zanardo. “Travel retail is a channel where you don’t just sell a product, you need to entertain the customers and give an experience. We are trying to elevate or change the game in the way that eyewear is managed in travel retail.”
The company’s partnership with Qatar Duty Free to introduce a 45sq m luxury multi-brand concept at Hamad International airport in Doha is a case in point. Located at the Concourse B luxury boulevard, the store which opened in July offers a curated selection of high-end brands from the Thélios line-up, including Dior, Fendi, Bulgari, TAG Heuer, Celine and Loewe. Each house has a dedicated space to display brand identity and the shop also features a Snapchat-powered augmented reality mirror for virtual try-ons.
Its first major global travel-retail activation in partnership with Dubai Duty Free was also introduced at Dubai Airport for LVMH-owned brand Bulgari, which joined the Thélios portfolio in January. The Bulgari pop-up at Terminal 2 ran from 15 March to 8 April and featured a range of specially selected sunglasses, showcased to international customers in time for Ramadan.
Thélios will continue with pop-up concepts at key airports in the future, picking locations in line with the luxury positioning of the business. “They will be consistent with our distribution policy, which is selective,” remarks Zarnado. “We choose only the best players in airports that can properly represent the level of quality that our maisons require.”
As a company, the evolution of Thélios began mainly in EMEA as a starting region, then continued in the Americas and Asia. Establishing an international direct presence is complete, with the latest subsidiaries opening in Mexico, Dubai and Japan.
While EMEA is quite a consolidated market both from a local and travel-retail perspective, there are opportunities to elevate levels of representation and experience for the category. With some marketplaces, such as the US, there is scope for a big improvement in quality, according to Zanardo. For this reason, the company currently works with a small number of operators across a few locations.
“Asia’s standard of quality can be high but it’s not the easiest moment for travel retail in that area,” explains Zanardo. “However, for us it is going well so we are quite confident for the future. The category [versus other categories in Asia] still has room to improve. With the adoption rate, there are perhaps opportunities to develop, regardless of what is external and environmental, and the category itself can still benefit from new consumers.”
Thélios will stay close to the travel and buying habits of shoppers – tracking, for instance, whether Chinese travellers are visiting Hainan or going to Japan. “There are some movements that to me are temporary and some that we need to look at in more detail,” explains Zanardo. “There are beautiful spots in places such as Thailand and Bangkok [airports], which we will look at with strong attention and diversify investments.”
All the fashion brands work well in this region. Labels such as Barton Perreira will use Asia travel retail to drive brand awareness and visibility as the traffic levels are high.
Relating business performance, Zanardo reports “double-digit” topline growth this year with no big differences among the regions. “Travel retail is slightly above average and Asia isn’t bad but not as high as it used to be,” he remarks. “The Middle East is a fantastic region for us now, both in local markets and travel retail.”
Looking ahead, the travel-retail setup will remain as Thélios grows as an organisation. With a global corporate business unit in place and smaller teams across the regions, there will be further investment in growing store presence.
“We are not retailers but we will invest in people who can either support retailers, such as visual merchandisers, trainers, trade marketers, merchandisers or [retail] partners,” states Zanardo. “I believe now we have all the capabilities internally in terms of know-how and different skills, it’s a matter of expanding this and being rich in measurables.”
Longarone Manifattura
At the Thélios Manifattura (factory) in Longarone, where there are 1,300 employees, the identity of each house is combined with Italian craftsmanship to create luxury eyewear. On average, each piece of eyewear requires nearly 30 different steps and over 80 hours of work. Around 4.5 million pairs of glasses are produced every year.
In the prototyping department, after brand designs are prepared using CAD software, 3D cutting and printing machines are among those used to create prototype frames from the digital blueprints, all of which are important to reducing the time to market.
In mainstream production, about 60% and 65% of frames are created from acetate, 20-25% in metal and 5-10% with plastic injection moulding.Highly versatile, durable and comfortable to wear, acetate is among the core components for luxury eyewear. Derived from cellulose, acetate offers a wide range of colours and patterns, which enable maisons to express their values through eyewear styles.
Plain acetate sheets are transformed into frames following a process of fabrication, combining technology and artisan labour. The acetate is cut, polished and bent several times to create the finished shape. Branded details such as logos, ornaments or luxury embellishments are applied by hand and attention to detail by skilled workers is imperative. Some machines, such as those used for tumbling or milling, run 24/7 to ensure time-sensitive treatment of components. After the front piece and temples (arms) are assembled, eyewear pieces are adjusted and fine-tuned before undergoing quality checks resulting in certification.
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