For eyewear, like most fashion categories, beating out the competition to come up with the next big thing is a balance between risk and research. Data can help experts predict the likelihood of consumers responding positively to innovative product, but ultimately, there are no guarantees — financial investments be damned. That doesn’t stop commercial eyewear giants from championing new ideas anyway.

For Safilo Group — a Padua, Italy-based global eyewear company that licenses major names including Carolina Herrera, Marc Jacobs, Tommy Hilfiger and Missoni, and owns Carrera, Polaroid, Smith, Blenders, Privé Revaux and Seventh Street — risky innovation drives its current business strategy. This can be partly attributed to CEO Angelo Trocchia, who, following his appointment in 2018, quickly invested in a turnaround for the company.

Many of these changes have been internal: For one, Safilo Group has transformed into a “digital company,” Trocchia told press at the company headquarters. “Digital is something that is really enabling our new way of working.” All the data is centralized, he explained, meaning anyone in the company can access everything related to the products, including operating brands, where it’s sold and not sold, financial numbers, SKUs and more. The restructuring has allowed more seamless communication and transparency among teams.

Another key change in the company? Tightening its people-focused approach. When building its portfolio and questioning what new licenses to take on — or brands to acquire — it first asks what the consumer needs are. “We really try with our portfolio to cover the different consumer needs, which is quite a strength for us when we talk with the customer because we can really offer solutions,” Trocchia explained.

For instance, over the past couple of years, the company has focused on acquiring licenses catering to women. “We’ve been hunting those licenses because it was very clear from our analysis that we were too weak on women,” he explained. “So we’ve been trying to cover that [demographic] both in premium contemporary and luxury.” He offered its licensing agreements with Stuart Weitzman and Isabel Marant as examples: “We were missing female, high-end luxury,” he said of the former. The latter filled the portfolio white space for luxury, Parisian eyewear.

Meanwhile, its multi-year partnership with Levi’s has been a worthwhile investment for targeting younger consumers, such as Gen Z. As the demographic gains more buying power, it’s become a clear target for the business. However, Safilo Group isn’t losing sight of other generations. “I think some of the industries have been too obsessed about Gen Z, forgetting about the money because Gen Z are fine, but they don’t have the money yet, except if they have a rich family behind them,” Trocchia laughed.

Understanding customer needs also means knowing a brand’s DNA and what draws consumers to the label to begin with. In addition to having access to brand archives, where Safilo Group can thoroughly conduct its own research, it also works alongside in-house design teams and creative directors to ensure a cohesive brand image.

For example, Hugo Boss creative director Marco Falcioni and the brand’s in-house team are fully involved in the eyewear development process alongside Safilo Group by offering briefs of what they’re looking for each season. The Hugo Boss team will also give input on the sketches, color choices and prototypes. Kim Bekker, artistic director of Isabel Marant, too, provides mood boards, color cards and material swatches to help develop its eyewear every season.

“We try to work very close[ly] because we need each other,” said Vladimiro Baldin, chief licensed brand & global product officer of Safilo Group. “We need a brand to boost the image and vice versa; the eyewear needs to be coherent. We make sure that we are brand-building together.”

Aside from centralizing its data and catering to more demographics, Safilo Group is keeping tabs on industry changes that indicate where the future of eyewear is heading. Ahead, company executives break down the new developments leading eyewear innovation, from sustainability to artificial intelligence.

Embracing artificial intelligence

Though the general use of AI continues to be hotly debated, Safilo Group sees its value and has already integrated it into its creative operations. The company’s new machine learning predictive model, for instance, employs AI to project sales and inventory to help staff strategize future business decisions.

“AI is like a personal assistant who’s helping you on your daily job,” shared Marcella Manzoni, chief information officer. “For us, what is really important is everything that relates to technology and artificial intelligence is intended to support our employees.”

The technology is also a key player in the company’s product development process, simulating early 2D sketches and 3D designs so the team can narrow down which styles move forward to the prototype stage. It’s a significant money and time saver, all while allowing employees to explore broader style, silhouette and color options.

Now, designers are determining how to incorporate AI into the eyewear itself. They’ve already figured out early versions: In 2023, Carrera announced its partnership with Amazon, launching Alexa-powered smart glasses. Thanks to open-air audio, users can listen to music, make and receive calls and listen to text messages while wearing the frames. Competitors such as Ray-Ban already offer camera capabilities in their smart glasses, but Safilo Group remains cautious due to privacy concerns. (That’s not to say it won’t consider it.) Augmented reality, too, has yet to be enabled by AI-powered eyewear, but it’s certainly part of the future plan.

The sustainable agenda

How eyewear fits into sustainability has always been a tricky conversation. Most lenses are made of plastic, while many frames are produced out of acetate (a plant-based material that can be an eco-friendly plastic alternative, depending on how it’s sourced and treated). Some smaller eyewear brands have found ways to develop eco-friendly glasses via upcycling pre-owned pairs or using low-waste technology like 3D-printed biobased fabric.

For larger eyewear companies, however, it’s difficult to tackle sustainability at scale without compromising quality, durability and cost. Safilo Group believes it’s still possible to address the challenge: Currently, it works with third-party developers to create recycled and bio-based biodegradable materials to incorporate into its glasses.

“We’ve been working with external third parties to try to adopt the production processes because some of these materials need to be worked out in a different way compared to the traditional ones,” Trocchia explained. In the long term, the company plans to develop these materials in-house. “Sustainability has been a big thing; we’ve been investing a lot of time and resources. Now, we have a dedicated team working to really understand what sustainable materials we can use more and more in our product,” he continued.

Brand-wise, some are more eco-forward than others: Kate Spade, for example, uses bio-based and recyclable materials for 25% of its frames. But while Safilo Group’s sustainability effort has been a paramount one, it’s not something the company overly promotes. “We are committed to sustainable goals, but nowadays, we don’t communicate [that] so much to avoid greenwashing [accusations],” Baldin explained.

“The relationship is not, ‘I do a collection with sustainable material, I sell more,'” Trocchia added. “That’s not the point. You need to build a journey, and you need to say, ‘Okay, if I buy a Safilo product, I know that behind that there is a company with an ethical agenda.’ It’s a more long-term [initiative].”

The power of sports

As far as Safilo Group is concerned, fashion’s convergence with sports is nowhere near its peak. In fact, developing sports-centric strategies remains key to maintaining relevance.

Last year, the company partnered with Formula One via sponsorships through Hugo Boss. Two years before, its brand Blenders signed a deal with the top racing team of that season, Oracle Red Bull Racing. The racing circuit offers a new level of exposure for eyewear companies, especially as F1 drivers become influencers and fashion figures in their own right.

Eyewear brands are courting additional sports demographics as well: Smith is catering to competitive fishers, thanks to its patented ChromaPop sunglasses that enhance natural colors via technologically altered light wavelengths. Wearers experience unprecedented optical clarity, designed largely for on-water activities like fishing and boating. “In some [fishing] competitions, because this clearness is [a] kind of superpower that you have, sometimes our sunglasses are not allowed to be used,” Baldin said.

Smith is also an ideal brand for extreme snowboarders and skiers with its newest 4D ski goggles — the result of a three-year project, they allow users to have a better periphery while hitting the slopes.

Safilo Group analysts have found that merging sports and fashion means catering to low-impact activities as well: San Diego-founded brand Blenders appeals to this audience with its assortment of lightweight, no-slip sunglasses that boast polarized lenses subdued enough for wearers to enjoy a casual game of golf or go skateboarding. Other shoppers simply want an athletic look: Carrera’s Sport collection offers this customer fashion-forward shades featuring sporty dimensions.

“After Covid, sports has been growing crazy and I think it’ll keep growing,” Trocchia explained. “Obviously, there cannot be a double-digit growth as it has been for the last three to four years, but the outdoor [market] is still moving.”

Disclosure: Safilo Group paid for Fashionista’s travel and accommodations to report this story.

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