“The Italian code” is a blog on Made in Italy and symbol-intensive industries, coordinated by Gabriella Lojacono.
According to Bain & Company, while most luxury categories stagnated in 2024, beauty and eyewear stood out, growing by +3% to +5%. Italy reaffirms its global dominance in eyewear manufacturing, a deeper dive into UN Comtrade data reveals a twist few would expect: believe it or not, Italy now exports more eyewear than pasta - a symbolic shift in the country’s industrial narrative. By aggregating trade codes 9003 (frames) and 9004 (sunglasses and spectacles), Italy’s exports reached €5.51 billion, surpassing the €4.68 billion value of pasta exports. And when we zoom in on sunglasses alone, Italy is the undisputed global leader, with over 75 million pairs exported, gracing the faces of fashion-forward consumers from New York to Paris, Berlin to London. Even more impressive is the rise of markets like China, the Middle East, and South Korea among Italy’s top 15 trade partners for eyewear - an anomaly in the broader landscape of Italian exports, but no accident.
Why? Because like beauty, eyewear is one of Italy’s crown jewels, a sector where creativity meets craftsmanship, honed over generations. This tradition is especially rooted in Veneto, home to a dense ecosystem of highly specialized manufacturers. Here, artisanal skill has long been paired with industrial precision, cementing Italy’s status as the creative and manufacturing engine powering the world’s most prestigious maisons.
Today, eyewear has evolved into more than just a functional accessory: it is an essential, often entry-level category in the luxury fashion world. It bridges seasonal runway storytelling with product innovation and cross-category coherence. In Italy, global maisons find not just excellence in manufacturing, but also design input, R&D capability, and unmatched quality standards.
It is no coincidence, then, that luxury giants like Kering have doubled down on their investments in Italy’s eyewear sector. The latest example is Kering Eyewear’s acquisition of Lenti, a historical company known for producing high-end lenses and optical components. With this move, Kering Eyewear strengthens its vertical integration strategy and reinforces its Italian footprint.
Since its founding in 2014 under the leadership of Roberto Vedovotto, Kering Eyewear has grown exponentially, reaching approximately €1.6 billion in revenue in 2024 with an astonishing CAGR of 76%. Its success stems not only from the in-house Kering brand portfolio, but also from prestigious external partnerships (such as Richemont, with Cartier and their other brands), strategic brand acquisitions, and the construction of an exceptional supply platform.
When I interviewed Vedovotto, he made it clear: far from a side venture, Kering Eyewear has emerged as a strategic cornerstone of the group’s global ambitions, and its commitment to Italy is long-term, serious, and deeply rooted in the belief that here, more than anywhere else, luxury eyewear finds its natural home.
Roberto Vedovotto, Kering Eyewear Founder, President and CEO. Courtesy of Kering Eyewear
Market performance interpretation
GL: Bain reports eyewear as one of only two luxury segments with growth in 2024 (+3–5%). What factors do you believe are driving this resilience, particularly in an otherwise stagnant luxury market? Is it a small indulgence item or something unique in companies design, production, merchandising and retail strategies?
RV: It is important to remember the protective, medical nature of eyewear: in general, sunglasses protect against sun radiation, while eyeglasses correct vision defects amid a rising aging population, prolonged screen exposure due to a heightened use of digital devices, and increased health awareness. As such, eyewear helps all of us to see better and improves our quality of life, and this functionality is certainly key in providing resilience to the category.
Furthermore, when it comes to luxury eyewear, sunglasses and eyeglasses have the additional advantage of being an aspirational product category, having the power to attract consumers keen to access high-end brands although at a relatively affordable price.
As a result, eyewear is able to count on relatively stable trends, hence becoming a strategic category for luxury brands, especially in times of market volatility.
Rationale behind the 2014 start-up strategy
GL: Kering Eyewear was launched in 2014 and based in Padova, where design, prototyping, and supplier networks are rooted. What motivated this decision, and how important has localization in Italy been to your success?
RV: Italy, and the Veneto region in particular, is the cradle of the eyewear industry. Indeed, Cadore, home to a significant number of manufacturers and companies specializing in the sector, has historically established itself as the eyewear district par excellence. Therefore, there was no better place to launch Kering Eyewear, a company that has always been committed to creating products of superior design and top-notch quality and that, since its beginning, has built extremely solid relationships with the best local suppliers.
Explaining Kering Eyewear’s exceptional growth
GL: Kering Eyewear is the only business within Kering showing significant growth. Can you share key performance indicators—such as revenue trends, margin improvements, and market penetration—to contextualize its success?
RV: Kering Eyewear closed 2024 with record revenues at around €1.6 billion (+6% comparable and +5% as reported vs. 2023) and an EBIT of €277M. Amid challenging market conditions and political instability, the first semester of 2025 was positive too, with revenues growing against the same period of 2024 (+2% comparable and +1% as reported). Through a sales and distribution approach enabling strong client relationships and a direct presence in the most strategic markets, Kering Eyewear serves around 30.000 customers (among optical specialists and multicategory retailers) and 60.000 points of sale worldwide in 150 countries.
Role of external growth and acquisitions
GL: How much of Kering Eyewear’s expansion is internal vs. driven by acquisitions? Are there specific deals or partnerships that influenced this scale-up?
RV: We are committed to realizing the potential of all brands in our portfolio, whether owned by our shareholders Kering and Richemont or directly by Kering Eyewear, therefore they have all been contributing to the company’s growth throughout the years. LINDBERG and Maui Jim, our own brands specialized in luxury optical frames and high-end performance sunglasses respectively, have been valuable additions to the business, but we are also fortunate to be able to count on fashion and luxury houses as well, such as Gucci and Cartier, that are among the most established and best positioned in the eyewear industry.
Manufacturing strategy and offshore decisions
GL: Why Kering Eyewear outsourced minor part of production to Asia? If so, what were the key benefits and trade-offs? To reduce lead times or tap into local materials expertise?
RV: A highly selected, very small number of Kering Eyewear’s suppliers are based in Asia, mostly in Japan. Indeed, another historical district has always been located in the Japanese Fukui Prefecture, specialized in the production of outstanding quality eyewear, mainly in titanium. Partnering with manufacturers in that area has enabled Kering Eyewear to access unique technical and qualitative solutions for its products through very specific know-how and expertise in titanium processing that are difficult to find elsewhere.
Motivation behind the Lenti acquisition in 2025
GL: Over time, many eyewear companies have internalized production. In June 2025, Kering Eyewear acquired Lenti, aligning with a vertical integration trend in the luxury sector. Could you elaborate on the strategic rationale—such as quality control, safeguarding know-how, volume security, and supply chain resilience?
RV: Vertical integration – both upstream and downstream – can serve multiple purposes: for instance, to ensure resilience and stability, increase control and quality assurance, improve margins, speed up innovation, directly access final consumers, reduce dependency on third parties.
Kering Eyewear started to vertically integrate in 2017 with the addition of the Cartier-dedicated Manufacture Kering Eyewear in France through the partnership with the Richemont Group. Over the years, we have made targeted investments in some of our most valuable partners, building on our industrial development strategy that relies on both outsourcing and internal production capacity. Investments include a majority stake in Trenti, a Cadore-based manufacturer of acetate and metal frames, the acquisition of UNT, a French Jura-based manufacturer of high-precision metal components, the acquisition of Visard and of a minority stake in Mistral, two manufacturers in the Belluno area specialized in the production of injected plastic and acetate eyewear, respectively. Our last acquisition – Lenti – provides an additional area of expertise to Kering Eyewear’s manufacturing platform and is an opportunity for the company to establish in-house competences for the development of Made in Italy sun lenses combining exceptional quality and functionality with R&D additional capabilities.
Exclusivity and Lenti’s contribution
GL: Will Lenti work exclusively with Kering Eyewear? What specific capabilities or assets—like lens technology, manufacturing capacity, or R&D—does Lenti bring into the group?
RV: Lenti specializes in the production and commercialization of lenses for sunglasses, but also extra-optical products such as visors and other protective components for lighting, and the automotive and motorcycle industries. Lenti will bring its excellence to Kering Eyewear with products characterized by exceptional quality, first-class technical innovation, and high performance.
Future investment and development plans
GL: Looking ahead, what investments are planned at Lenti? Are there initiatives to scale its operations, integrate AI in R&D, or develop premium lens offerings?
RV: Our ambition is to leverage Lenti’s invaluable know-how and technologies to study innovative solutions for the development of “Made in Italy” sun lenses to be applied to our products positioned in the high-end luxury segment.
Outlook: Continuing upstream integration strategy
GL: Does Kering Eyewear plan further upstream integration through acquisitions or partnerships? How far upstream—in materials, components, or tech—do you envision this strategy going?
RV: Flexibility is key in Kering Eyewear’s sourcing strategy; hence we are keen on maintaining our production balanced between our network of long-standing, trusted, and highly selected external suppliers and our own manufacturing capabilities. Today, our internal platform counts on several plants in Italy and France as well as on LINDBERG’s production facilities.
What the eyewear sector teaches us
Vertical integration as a platform for innovation. More than a control strategy, upstream integration enables to experiment, innovate, and accelerate product development - from lenses to frames - directly where know-how resides.
The value of proprietary brands in portfolio management. A portfolio enriched by proprietary brands, alongside strategic collaborations, supports sustainable growth and strengthens a company’s ability to respond to both creative and commercial market forces.
Listening to global markets, not just selling. Growth in traditional markets like the US and non-traditional markets such as China, the Middle East, and Korea highlights the importance of local insight and culturally intelligent commercial strategies.
Italy as a living innovation lab. The Veneto eyewear district is not only a manufacturing hub but a fertile ground for R&D, design experimentation, and cross-sectoral innovation - a model of industrial craftsmanship fused with high-tech agility.
Eyewear as an entry-point into luxury. Sunglasses and optical frames are not just functional accessories - they are cultural signifiers and brand gateways that combine high emotional appeal with broader accessibility.
A new vision for luxury growth. In a complex environment, eyewear proves that heritage sectors can be reimagined. The formula? Industrial discipline, creative thinking, and the courage to invest where tradition and technology meet.
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