Kering Eyewear, Chloé Ink New Partnership

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MILAN — Kering Eyewear said Thursday it has signed an agreement to design, develop, produce and distribute globally eyewear collections for Chloé.

The first collection will bow for spring 2021 and comprises women’s sunglasses and prescription frames, and a selection for kids.

It will be presented at the Silmo Salon Mondial de l’Optique trade show in September, while distribution will start in January.

Chloé’s eyewear was previously produced and distributed for nine years by Marchon Eyewear, resulting in the Carlina, Poppy and Rosie styles, among others.

Roberto Vedovotto, president and chief executive officer of Kering Eyewear, headquartered at the 17th-century Villa Zaguri, about an hour away from Venice, set up the company in 2014, launching a new business model. Kering Eyewear develops and distributes collections for brands ranging from Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta and Alexander McQueen to Stella McCartney, Alaïa, Brioni, Boucheron, Pomellato, McQ and Puma. In March 2017, Compagnie Financière Richemont, which controls Chloé, became a stakeholder in Kering Eyewear, which led to the production of Cartier eyewear. Collections for Montblanc, Courrèges and Balenciaga have been added since last year.

Vedovotto expressed his pride in the new agreement. “Our mission is to support and expand the maison’s standing in the eyewear segment, pushing it to reach its full potential and establish itself as a leading brand in the women’s luxury fashion segment. Our special thanks goes to Marchon Eyewear, which has excelled in defining Chloé’s most distinctive styles, leaving us an extraordinary creative asset to capitalize on.” In addition, said Vedovotto, the partnership reinforces the eyewear company’s alliance with Richemont.

While also thanking Marchon, Riccardo Bellini, ceo of the fashion brand, said the new agreement is in line with its “mission to reinforce our strong position and establish Chloé as an undeniable leader in the luxury eyewear industry. As Kering Eyewear shares our same ambitious vision for the brand, we are confident they will be an outstanding strategic partner, enabling us to bring Chloé Eyewear’s business to the next level.”

As reported, Chloé has signed the petition for a more sensible and sustainable fashion calendar spearheaded by Dries Van Noten with the aim to better align fashion deliveries with seasons and stamp out early markdowns.

Chloé is working on its spring 2021 collection and plans to hold a presentation for it in September during Paris Fashion Week — likely a hybrid of a digital and physical event, Bellini said. He also noted the studio, led by creative director Natacha Ramsay-Levi, is now finalizing a “reduced” pre-spring collection to be sold in June via a digital showroom.

As part of the agreement with Richemont, Kering Eyewear took control of Manifacture Cartier Lunettes in Sucy-en-Brie and its 240 employees, renaming the production facility Manifacture Kering Eyewear.

In an interview with WWD last October, asked if Kering Eyewear could produce other brands under the Richemont umbrella, Vedovotto demurred. “Richemont’s other brands have arrangements that are current — as things evolve, we will see,” he said, underscoring that Kering Eyewear is “open to evaluate the production of other brands, but not for the sake of it, only for those that are controlled by our shareholders. We are not in the licensing business.”

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