Thursday 28th February 2013 – De Rigo Vision, one of the world’s leading producers and distributors of glasses, is celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of Police, the group’s leading house brand, with brilliant financial figures – in 2012 the Police brand (glasses and licences) generated a total retail revenue of €340 million, increasing by 6% compared to 2011 (an increase of over 60% compared to 2009).
At the same time, Police announced the licence agreement with Moda Fashion, marking the brand’s entry in the fashion apparel sector. Born in the mid 80s as an eyewear brand, Police is an excellence case history in the sector of eyewear, thanks to the perfumes produced with Mavive (from 1997), the watches (from 2003) and jewellery (from 2005) produced with PT Switzerland, as well as the leather items produced with Tavecchi (from 2011).
“Signing this new brand extension means the brand has reached a strategic target. Police has been able to evolve in sync with the trends, customs and habits of its public,” commented Michele Aracri, the CEO of the De Rigo Vision Spa. “When we began we were a small firm with 15 employees. Now 1,500 people work for Police and the brand represents more than 30% of the group’s wholesale revenue. With this licence, Police is once again fully expressing its versatility, proving it is a truly all-round brand. It also brings us even closer to our aim – to have all the products of the Police brand in a single, mono-brand concept store.”
The last great event that Police is presenting for the thirtieth anniversary occasion is the Look Beyond Project, a charity project centred on the creation of a photography book and a special edition of glasses to support the “Forgotten Crises” campaign of Doctors Without Borders. The Look Beyond book is made by a great master of Italian photography, Giovanni Gastel, who used a gallery of photographic portraits of stars from the world of performing arts and music, of athletes and artists, to speak of the meaning of ‘looking beyond’ (i.e. going beyond the limitations and filters that often do not allow us to fully understand the reality surrounding us and our inner being).
The project’s debut will be in Milan during a great event scheduled for 28th February, with the participation of many of the VIPs who joined the project and important brand testimonials from abroad. The event will take place a few days before MIDO, a major international eyewear exhibition.
This news is a frame for the global data of the Group, which ended 2012 with €217 million revenue generated by the wholesale division, recording a 1.4% growth compared to the previous financial year and confirming the positive trend of the past years. The increase in turnover is partly the result of the Group’s internationalisation strategies in which Europe, Asia and the Middle East are rapidly expanding markets, especially for brands in the luxury segment of the company portfolio.
The licensing brands in the portfolio of De Rigo Vision – which account for about 60% of wholesale revenue – are Blumarine, Carolina Herrera, Chopard, Ermenegildo Zegna, Escada, Fila, Furla, Givenchy, Guess, Lanvin, Loewe, Orla Kiely Tous, Victor Hugo, which add to the brands that are property of the Group (Police, Lozza and Sting). Thanks to an extensive wholesale network managed by De Rigo Vision SpA, the Group’s products are distributed in about 80 countries, especially in Europe, Asia and North and South America, through 13 companies with 18 marketing divisions and more than 100 independent distributors.
De Rigo Group also has a retail division, a sector in which the company rates as one of the most important actors in distribution in the eyewear channel, thanks to the chains it owns, i.e. General Optica (Spain), Mais Optica (Portugal), Opmar Optik (Turkey), and two subsidiary companies, Boots Opticians (UK) and Sewon (Korea).
