The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · 1934–2025
Safilo made glasses for Gucci and Dior — then the brands took their business in-house
Safilo built a $1.1B eyewear empire on licensed brands — then LVMH and Kering took eyewear in-house, and Safilo fell from #2 to #3.
Safilo Group · Kering Eyewear · LVMH · 2022-06
What happened
Safilo Group was founded in 1934 in Pieve di Cadore, Italy, and grew from a small lens workshop into the world's second-largest eyewear company. For decades, Safilo's business model was built on licensed brands: it produced frames for Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Alexander McQueen, Dior, Jimmy Choo, and dozens of others. Safilo owned the supply chain and collected the revenue while the brand owners collected royalties. By 2005, revenue reached $1.1 billion.
The model had a hidden vulnerability: Safilo did not own the brands it depended on. When LVMH consolidated eyewear through Thélios (2017) and Kering formed Kering Eyewear (2014), Safilo's two biggest clients became competitors. The Gucci license — Safilo's most important — was not renewed, and the Dior license followed. Each loss removed a pillar from Safilo's revenue.
By 2022, Kering Eyewear had passed Safilo to become the world's second-largest eyewear company. Safilo closed or sold plants in Italy, Slovenia, and the US. It acquired digital-native brands Blenders and Privé Revaux, but they could not replace Gucci and Dior. Revenue in 2025 was €983.4 million — lower than 2005 after inflation — and the company that once produced sunglasses for the world's most famous fashion houses now competes against them.
Why it happened
- Built on licenses it did not control — when Gucci, Dior, and other brands moved eyewear in-house, Safilo lost the revenue supporting its cost structure, with no owned brand to fill the gap.
- Kering Eyewear (2014) and Thélios (2017) were existential threats Safilo underestimated — the company kept operating as if the license model was permanent, rather than building its own brands early.
- Plant closures in Italy, Slovenia, and the US retreated from Safilo's manufacturing advantage — once it closed factories, Safilo became primarily a licensee, weakening its negotiating position.
- Acquiring Blenders and Privé Revaux in 2020 was too late and too small — two digital brands with modest revenue could not replace the scale of lost Gucci and Dior licenses.
The lesson
When your growth depends on brands you do not own, you are not a business — you are a supplier with good customers. Safilo's customers became its competitors, and there was no Plan B.
Aftermath
Safilo continues to operate from Padua with €983.4M in 2025 revenue, maintaining licenses for Boss, Jimmy Choo, Missoni, Moschino, Tommy Hilfiger, and others. But Kering Eyewear is now solidly #2 and Thélios is growing. Safilo's owned brands — Blenders, Privé Revaux, Carrera, Smith Optics — remain a small fraction of its revenue. The company that once produced one in every three designer glasses sold globally now fights to stay relevant in an industry where brand owners have decided they want to own the manufacturing too.
Sources
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