PARIS — Smart and luxury eyewear were the key talking points at the recent Silmo fair north of Paris, where the optical industry unveiled its innovations for the year ahead.
The expansive annual show, which ran at the Villepinte exhibition center from Friday to Monday, attracted over 30,000 visitors over its four-day run, a 3.7 percent dip from last year, with around 53 percent hailing from abroad, and welcomed 980 exhibitors, including 130 newcomers.
Smart eyewear was, for one, the main focus of the Silmo Next innovation hub. A talk by Sébastien Busset, a designer and member of the Silmo Next expert committee, gave eyewear professionals, notably opticians, insight into how to navigate market shifts and tailor their business models.
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“It has significant impacts on the role of the optician,” said Busset. “Opticians will need to review their place in the value chain, to take on a societal role,” he commented, educating consumers on privacy and AI and differences between platforms. Cost scenarios will also have to be taken on board, he said, due to significant differences in margins between traditional eyewear, with margins of around 80 percent, and tech-enabled products, which margin at around 10 percent, he said. While technology and solutions available are changing fast, he said, “Now is the time for opticians to build legitimacy for the future so they remain the trusted intermediary for consumers.”
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With tech companies investing massive sums in the segment — Meta’s latest launches being just one case in point, “The key question is where optical professionals can make a meaningful contribution,” according to Busset.
“Optical players really need to innovate today to seek out new customers,” said Silmo president Amélie Morel. “Opticians, for instance, need to differentiate beyond selling glasses, to offer services or propose different categories of products,” she said. “There’s space for everyone, but you need to innovate and offer something new.”
The show’s Optical Design Contest this year saw students focused on smart concepts combining eyewear with hearing aids or addressing attention spans and emotional regulation, with Sophia Denison of Savannah College of Art and Design taking home the prize for her Dreamscape design, designed to address the “attention crisis” by recreating dreamlike sensations through visual distortion.
The Silmo d’Or winners centered on the dialogue between design, technology and the wearer experience, with autofocus glasses from Laclarée, progressive lenses personalized thanks to virtual reality and luxury smart glasses, alongside high-end designs in natural slate or Japanese titanium, among the winners, with Paloceras taking home the Jury’s Special Prize for its Pebble RX design, with a sandblasted finish and mineral presence.
Trends highlighted at the show’s forum included a return to ’90s glam, extroverted and extravagant frames and sporty silhouettes. Attendees, meanwhile, noted an expanded offer of acetate frames with new volumes and colorways, the return of cat’s-eye shapes and smaller, elongated designs.
EssilorLuxottica was introducing the second generation of its Transitions Color Touch collection, which taps into demand for color-changing fashion-led prescription lenses, with washed and gradient options available. Further innovations on the company’s stand included Nuance Audio Plus, which associates sight correction with a hearing assistant for those with light hearing loss, now featuring integrated calling capabilities without the need to manipulate a phone. In the Ray-Ban Meta collection, meanwhile, there were new audio versions for users who do not wish to have an integrated camera, and an expanded range of styles in the core Ray-Ban Meta range.
Exhibitors cited strong demand for luxury and high-end frames, despite challenges for the core of the market, with manufacturers and opticians impacted by cost inflation, particularly as a result of the war in the Middle East. Ongoing industry consolidation was a key talking point, with independent eyewear makers doubling down on consumer-facing initiatives and high-end product to knock home their singularity. Several executives highlighted that compared with other luxury categories, the eyewear business has proved resilient over the past couple of years.
“The thirst for luxury eyewear is growing; it’s only going to increase the size of the overall business,” said Linda Farrow, owner and creative director Simon Jablon, the son of the brand’s founder. “It seems that the luxury end of the market is relatively protected from [the geopolitical context] and is still doing well.” The company, which also produces eyewear for Jacquemus, is looking at elevating its positioning, including with jewelry-like pieces.
Likewise, on the Akn Group stand, Akoni was showcasing gold-plated frames with a limited run for its Optima Eris-Two design. “Today, more expensive is easier to sell,” said Akn Group chief executive officer Rosario Toscano. “You have very few brands in that segment of the market. Our average price for Akoni is $700 to $750. Someone spending that money will also spend $2,000.”
Los Angeles-based Dita, meanwhile, is rolling out its Inovati concept, with custom frames set with a personalized combination of diamonds created using a digital configurator, available to order and shipped in just a few weeks. The concept ties in with a new approach for the company, which is leaning into consumer-facing initiatives in a market that has traditionally been predominantly B2B.
Dita recently brought marketing executive KC Clarke, who previously worked with brands including Vans and Adidas, on board to build the brand’s storytelling. “The world of eyewear is a little stale, a little boring,” he commented. Dita is working on initiatives including implementing geolocalized campaigns in collaboration with its stockists, to support wholesale, as well as buzzy collaborations with brands like 424. “We’re trying to move from just being a product-led brand to kind of a world-building identity-led brand,” said Clarke. “It’s trying to build this identity in a world where the consumer can see themselves, rather than just, here’s a frame, it’s great quality, beautifully designed,” said Clarke.
“For luxury brands, I would say that back in the day it was 70 percent product 30 percent marketing, now it’s more like 70 percent marketing, 30 percent product, and that’s the reality we have to accept,” said Akn Group’s Toscano.
“Our industry is finally starting to change,” said Toscano. “This is a market where everything has been the same since the ’60s, we are very consistent,” he said. “Finally, the consumer is very educated; companies, designers, optical stores and department stores, they’ve kind of lost their power… Storytelling is becoming so crucial for every brand, especially in the luxury segment.”
“I need to change the business into a hospitality business,” agreed Linda Farrow’s Jablon. “This is what separates us from licensed products.”
U.K.-based Cutler and Gross is also looking into lifestyle collaborations, and recently tied with Debbie Harry for a capsule of cat’s-eye shapes. “We’re bringing wider cultural storytelling to our campaigns. It’s really nice bridging that fashion and lifestyle world,” said brand and communications director Sadie Watts.
Increasingly, the high-end independent eyewear makers are being sought out by fashion brands looking for a more exclusive offer, along the lines of Linda Farrow’s collaboration with Jacquemus and Akn Group’s partnership with Balmain, the new collection for which was revealed on the runway in Paris on Wednesday.
“People are valuing the independence of brands more and more. There’s value in independence and not getting lost in a sea of 30 brands, where there’s a lot of sameness,” said Dita’s chief operating officer Cody Cho.
At Silmo, German high-end eyewear maker Mykita was teasing its capsule with edgy fashion brand Vaquera, to be unveiled on the runway in Paris on Wednesday, as well as a limited-edition collaboration with jazz vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant launching in November and a tie-up with fashion brand 032c. On the innovation front, the brand showcased Mykita Syncro, with lenses adapting instantly (in less than one second) to light levels thanks to a miniature solar panel and a liquid crystal layer in the lenses, in contrast to existing photochromic lenses, which are slower to adapt and only change with UV exposure.
“The more unique your offer is, and the more functional value and benefit you can offer your consumers, the more resilient you are to market dynamics,” said Moritz Krueger, Mykita’s cofounder and chief executive officer. “By far the majority of the eyewear category is manufactured in a very conventional way with the same technologies. New generations of consumers within the luxury category are looking beyond the logo; they are much more interested in the details of the product and brand.”
