Thélios, from start-up to recognised player in the luxury eyewear sector

Thélios sunglasses for brands such as Dior, Céline, Fendi, Loewe and others are now ubiquitous, appearing on red carpets and catwalks as well as in stores and on social media. Thélios was jointly created in 2017 by LVMH and Italian eyewear manufacturer Marcolin and, after the luxury group took full control in 2021, it has taken off, greatly increasing its visibility. In just a few years, Thélios has managed to earn the status of a recognised player in the high-end eyewear segment. LVMH’s own brands have benefited from the group’s vertical integration. Its eyewear and sunglasses have risen even further into the top tier, increasingly moving from logo-defined products to “precious” objects.

In three years, Thélios has doubled the size of its factory and tripled its workforce. It now produces for 11 brands in the LVMH galaxy (Dior, Fendi, Celine, Givenchy, Loewe, Stella McCartney, Kenzo, Berluti, Bulgari, TAG Heuer and Fred), and in September and October 2023 it acquired two other licences, Vuarnet and Barton Perreira. “When I joined the management of Thélios at the beginning of 2022, we were struggling to recruit high-level staff. Now, we receive hundreds of applications for some positions. Since 2021, our workforce has grown from 600 to almost 2,000 employees,” CEO Alessandro Zanardo told FashionNetwork.com during a visit to the Longarone plant in northern Italy.

The factory is located in a valley in the Veneto, nestled in the middle of the Dolomites, an area of ​​Italy specialised in the production of eyewear, where the manufacturer's new corporate name, Thélios LVMH Eyewear Excellence, is proudly displayed. Last year, Thélios revamped its brand and corporate image, with the aim of clearly redefining its identity and emphasising the link with the world's number one luxury group, now with a 100% stake in the company. Thélios launched a new website in April and has generally been very active on the marketing front over the past three years. For example, it has partnered with the International Film Festival of Artthe Venice Film Festival organised by the Biennale, of which it has been the exclusive official sponsor for glasses since 2022.

For the 81st edition of the Festival, scheduled from 28 August to 7 September, Thélios has reserved the usual suite at the prestigious Hotel Excelsior, fitting it out as an exhibition hall and lounge for guests and receptions. The suite is also available to the media, for interviews on the films competing in the festival. In addition, to ensure that its brands' products are endorsed by movie stars this year, Thélios has invited influencers to the festival's red carpet events for the first time.

According to Thélios, the collaboration with the Venice Film Festival is “strategic” as it underlines the company’s connection with the Veneto region and the prestige that comes with the festival’s international reputation. The collaboration is all the more evident as sunglasses are naturally associated with movie stars and have greatly contributed to making Thélios a household name. With the return of Hollywood actors to Venice in 2024, after last year’s strike, Thélios has enjoyed record visibility during this edition, with, among others, Adrian Brody wearing Barton Perreira, Lady Gaga wearing Céline, Pedro Almodóvar wearing Loewe and Camille Cottin wearing Dior.

“Being recognisable and attractive, showing that we are dynamic, are very important elements for the market and the public. We invite our optician clients, our suppliers and our employees here, so that they can enjoy a good experience thanks to the prestige of the venue and the reputation of our brands. Everyone is delighted and, in addition, we can meet and talk with different players in the eyewear sector,” says Zanardo.

4.5 million glasses produced each year

The Thélios factory, with its rows of workshops, looks like a giant beehive. High-tech prototyping rooms packed with cutting and 3D printing machines line up alongside vast, noisy manufacturing areas and the quieter, autonomous sections for finishing operations, where workers fine-tune products by hand, in the final stage of production. A tight schedule of upcoming deliveries is posted on the wall: hundreds of prototypes must be sent to various brands by September 19, both for the Paris Fashion Week shows and for the presentations of new collections scheduled at the Silmo Paris eyewear fair.

The Thélios prototype department produces 5,000 models of glasses a year, while the company's annual production is 4.5 million pairs of glasses. “All of them are produced in Longarone, except for the rare exceptions that require a special finish. We don't work with semi-finished items, everything is produced here,” explains operations director Luca Zaccagna. Between 60 and 65% of the frames are made of acetate, 20-25% of metal and 5-10% with plastic injection moulding.

Since its construction, the factory has continued to evolve and new spaces are being fitted out. In 2020, an entire floor was added to the building, increasing the initial 10,000 square metres by another 10,000 square metres. In addition, a workshop was set up in Padua to develop prototypes of Dior eyewear. In a few months, another 20,000 square metres of factory space will be operational on an adjacent site, acquired by Thélios in October 2023 from Safilo for 10 million euros. This new space, which is currently being renovated, will house a metal processing and galvanising workshop.

The Paris headquarters of Thélios, which houses the marketing, communications and merchandising offices, as well as the design department and product managers for each brand, has been expanded to accommodate Vuarnet's staff. At the same time, Thélios has completed its global commercial rollout, through a network of 15 subsidiaries.