Safilo Group

Safilo Group S.p.A. (acronym of Società Anonima Fabbrica Italiana Lavorazione Occhiali) is an Italian company that designs, produces and distributes prescription frames, sunglasses, sports eyewear, ski goggles and helmets, and cycling helmets under its own five house brands and 32 licensed brands, including Smith Optics who make military grade eyewear.

Safilo Group S.p.A.
TypePublic
BIT: SFL
IndustryFashion, manufacturing, retail
FoundedPieve di Cadore, Italy, in 1934
Headquarters
Padua
,
Italy
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Angelo Trocchia (CEO), Eugenio Razelli (President), Guglielmo Tabacchi (Founder)
ProductsSport and fashion sunglasses, spectacle frames, ski helmets and goggles, bike helmets
ServicesOpticians, sunglass retail
Revenue€1047 million (2018)[1]
€208 million (2018)[1]
€252 million (2018)[1]
Number of employees
8,108 (2011)[2]
Websitewww.safilogroup.com

Their products are primarily manufactured in three Italian facilities with an additional plant in Slovenia, one in United States and one in China,[3] and are marketed in 130 countries worldwide.[4]

As of 2012, it was the second largest optical frame and sunglasses company,[5] after Luxottica.

History

It was in 1878 that a manufacturing site was first opened to produce lenses and frames in Calalzo di Cadore, in the Venetian Alps. The Safilo name dates back to 1934, when Guglielmo Tabacchi bought this first Italian production site and founded a new eyewear company, making it the oldest player in the Italian eyewear industry.[6]

In the 1930s, exports expanded to many European countries, North Africa, the Middle East and South America. During the second world war, Safilo was forced to produce only one type of eyewear, a celluloid frame in two colours, amber and reddish Havana brown, that were all sent to Germany. After the war, exports to other European nations resumed and operations expanded to Rome and Milan with exports beginning in the United States. In 1974, the founder of Safilo died and his sons took over running the business. In the 1970s, Safilo opened sales offices in various European nations, patented the Elasta hinge, and introduced a popular UFO model of sunglasses.[7]

In the 1980s, Safilo developed designer collections and gained full control of American eyewear company Starline Optical Corp. He subsequently acquired then sunglass-maker Friuli-based Oxsol and listed Safilo on the Milan Stock Exchange. In the 1990s, Safilo entered the Asian market in Hong Kong, opened branches in more European nations, South Africa, Japan and Brazil, acquired American sports eyewear maker Smith Sports Optics, Inc, and Austria's Carrera Optyl.

In May 2001, Safilo Chairman Vittorio Tabacchi began a takeover bid in which he acquired full ownership of Safilo. The company returned to the Milan Stock Exchange in December 2005. Also in 2001, the company inaugurated its new centralized warehouse at its Padua headquarters, a state-of-the-art structure with highly automated facilities. At this point, the distribution platform consisted of three main centres, located in Padua; Denver, Colorado; and Hong Kong.

In 2002, Safilo acquired the Solstice Sunglasses chain in US.

In 2008 and 2009, Hal Holding NV increased its ownership to 37.23% of the company.[5]

In January 2018, Safilo Group launched luxury eyewear collections along with Elie Saab Couture and Oxydo brands.[8]

Safilo owns its private collection about the history of eyewear and of the company.[9]

Safilo Brands

The core Safilo brands are:.[10]

Sales

Safilo's full year 2017 total net sales of Euro 1,047.0 million decreased 16.4% at current exchange rates and 15.5% at constant exchange rates compared to Euro 1,252.9 million in the full year 2016. In the year, wholesales revenues equaled Euro 981.7 million, down 16.7% at current exchange rates and 15.8% at constant exchange rates compared to Euro 1,177.8 million in 2016. The net sales of the Going Forward Brand Portfolio decreased by 3.9% at constant exchange rates (-3.9% excl. retail).[11]

For the fiscal year 2014, revenues at Safilo stood at 1,178.7 million euros (1,277.8 million dollars) representing a 5.1 percent rise against 2013, and revenue growth in the fourth quarter of 2014 was 11.2 percent against the fourth quarter of 2013.[12] In the first quarter of 2015, the turnover of Safilo in Europe was up 2.6 percent or over 2.8 percent at constant exchange rates.[13]

In 2010, the Safilo Group's revenues were up 6.8% over 2009, with net sales at €1,079.9 million or €1.1 billion.[5] Sales have been determined by prescription frames (38%), sunglasses (54.3%) and sport and other products (7.7%). Safilo's products are primarily sold to wholesale clients through approximately 1000,000 points of sale in about 130 countries in the world.[14]

See also
  • List of Italian companies

References
  1. 2018 Financial results
  2. http://investors-en.safilo.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=195673&p=irol-financialhighlights Official Press Release
  3. "Production Sites". Safilo. Archived from the original on 7 September 2009.
  4. "Licensed Brands". Safilo. Archived from the original on 23 September 2009. Retrieved 13 Nov 2009.
  5. Chevalier, Michel (2012). Luxury Brand Management. Singapore: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-118-17176-9.
  6. "Galleria Safilo - Safilo Story". Retrieved 2018-08-10.
  7. "History". Safilo. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
  8. Turra, Alessandra (2017-01-25). "Safilo Group Launches Atelier Division". WWD. Retrieved 2018-09-11.
  9. "Official Museum website".
  10. Turra, Alessandra (18 December 2013). "Safilo Group Names Global Commercial Director". WWD. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  11. "2017 Results".
  12. Singh, Prachi (March 9, 2015). "Safilo FY14 revenues rise 5.1 percent". FashionUnited. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  13. Singh, Prachi (April 28, 2015). "Safilo reports positive Q1 with net sales rise of 10.6 percent". FashionUnited. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
  14. "Official Press Release".
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