Yahoo Finance EXCLUSIVE: Valentino Signs Eyewear License With Akoni Group
MILAN — Valentino has signed a new license with the Switzerland-based Akoni Group for the design, manufacture and worldwide distribution of the brand’s eyewear collections.
The 10-year agreement will be effective starting July 2022 and the first eyewear models under the agreement will be available on the market beginning the same month. The first collection will officially launch on the occasion of Valentino’s spring 2023 ready-to-wear fashion show.
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“Akoni Group shares the Valentino brand’s values as demonstrated by its passion for innovative design, impeccable craftsmanship, unrivaled quality and social consciousness,” the couture house said in a statement. The new eyewear collections will reflect Valentino’s couture approach “by utilizing the finest materials and a combination of time-honored and cutting-edge production techniques.”
Akoni unveiled an eyewear line for Balmain last year.
On Wednesday at the end of trading, Valentino and Luxottica Group said the five-year eyewear license between the two companies would end on June 30.
Luxottica has been producing and distributing prescription frames and sunglasses worldwide for Valentino under an agreement that went into effect in January 2017.
Marchon produced Valentino’s eyewear before Luxottica. Valentino did not immediately reveal its plans for the future of the brand’s eyewear category.
In addition to Luxottica, Valentino has only one other license, for beauty and fragrances with L’Oréal. The Rome-based couture house launched the Voce Viva fragrance fronted by Lady Gaga last September and a makeup line in June.
As reported, accessories helped drive Valentino’s business in the first half, with revenues showing an increase of 64 percent to 574 million euros, compared with 362 million euros in the same period last year, and almost flat compared with 2019. The growth in the first half was driven by online sales, the Middle East, U.S. and Greater China regions.
Luxottica produces eyewear collections for brands including Giorgio Armani, Burberry, Chanel, Prada, Ralph Lauren and Versace.
In 2018, Luxottica merged with France-based Essilor in a 46-billion-euro merger, forming EssilorLuxottica.
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