Luxottica - claim to make George's glasses

Roniko Hosting Luxottica Group Representatives

Written by Keti Chkhikvadze

21/02/2011

The FINANCIAL -- Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and George Clooney are the shortlist of those celebrities that wear glasses designed and manufactured by Luxoticca Group, which in Georgia is officially presented by Roniko, one of the leading optics companies in the country.

Luxottica Group is a leader in premium fashion, luxury and sports eyewear with over 6 200 optical and sun retail stores in North America, Asia-Pacific, South Africa and Europe. With more than 30 brands in its portfolio, it includes those as famous as Chanel, Ferragamo, Versace, Ray-Ban, Vogue, Prada, and Dolce & Gabbana.

“We create two main collections every year presented in March and in July at fairs in Milan, Italy. At Luxottica we have 30 brands, for each brand we make 7-8 new styles for release per year,” said Averis Papastefani, Export Manager at Luxottica Group.

Papastefani said that behind the sunglasses and frames is the whole human chain, starting from design to production. We employ people who love and are patient with their work, delivering good quality products to the population.

The most expensive eyewear which is probably associated with gold and diamonds was created for Bvlgari. Luxottica has also created luxury eyewear for Dolce & Gabbana, and for Ray-Ban for its anniversary.

Luxottica net sales for the year 2010 reached 5.8 billion EUR, a 13.8% increase compared to the previous year, the highest ever achieved in the history of the group.

“As with all other aspects of our life, the crisis touched our businesses. However the luxury sector was surprisingly not damaged. Luxottica is a very strong company with a strong basis that can afford any kind of crisis,” Papastefani said.

The success of the company is reflected in the increased share price of the company which reached 30 USD on NYSE as of February 2010. Luxottica became a publicly traded company on January 24, 1990, when it was listed on the NYSE. On December 4, 2000, the Group’s shares were listed on the Milan Stock Exchange.

Luxottica Group has 15 years of partnership with Roniko, named the little brother of Luxottica by Papastefani. The major aim of the visit was to share the company’s vision and evaluate the performance of the company in the Georgian market.

“This is our first time visiting Georgia. We are very surprised to see quite so many people wearing glasses, including sunglasses. I see the young generation wears sunglasses which is the best thing as creating a culture of this starts with each new generation. Although I have not personally been to Armenia, in Azerbaijan the culture is good as well however Georgia is a more open country. I see more people smiling and for us Italian people it’s very familiar,” Papastefani said.

As Papastefani says, the reason they came to Georgia was to check whether Roniko is following Luxottica policy about prices. The results were satisfactory as the recommended policy was proved to be followed by Roniko.

“I found that luxury brands are known in Georgia, which was a surprise for me. However, out of them all the most popular is Ray-Ban. We sell Ray-Ban like we sell bread, because it’s young, stylish, it’s a lifestyle and icon. One can wear it whether one is 16, 30 or even 50. Ray-Ban is worldwide the most well known and famous brand. Moreover, there are many other brands such as Chanel and Dolce & Gabbana that people have started to love. Surprisingly it’s very good that people know such famous brands in Georgia and in the region,” said Papastefani.

“Considering that all CIS countries are emerging markets, Georgia is a market that we have to develop further. The bases are very strong in the country thanks to Roland Javakhia, General Director of Roniko and his team. The strong base provides the opportunity to create a very good market. We hope that this year will be much better with increased sales compared to previous years,” Papastefani said.


Papastefani has observed a change in demand for eyewear. She recalls the fact that 10 years ago the dominant colours were brown and black whereas now they have started selling different bright coloured frames.

Papastefani believes that frames give more personality to individuals through becoming accessories, trendy and decorated with stones, glamorous and colourful, which could be teamed with a matching bag and shoes. She believes that contact lenses however are more comfortable for evening occasions.

“In Italy we use the important phrase “you are as important to me as the eyes are for the body”. Eyes are very important for young children, for youngsters and the middle aged. The best thing you can do is take care of them. That’s why we have a campaign to raise awareness telling people not to neglect eye problems as it is important not to aggravate such issues and risk making them worse. The best thing to do is to get checked by an ophthalmologist and choose the right frame, to suit you as well as being helpful,” Papastefani said.

“Even looking at the television or reading for hours is not healthy. In Italy we use lenses that can calm your eyes and support hours of work at the computer as rays go into your eyes otherwise and can damage them. So, the best thing is to protect your eyes even if the problem is a small one. We have specialists in Roniko laboratories who can give free advice for such a purpose - to protect and better serve our customers’ eyes,” Papastefani added.

pattygirl wrote:Have seen many recent pics of George wearing glasses. He seems to need them for reading. I believe he wore them while doing the reading of "8". I personally think he looks great with glasses, and I think he looks sexy in regular glasses as we can see his beautiful eyes.

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