LVMH and Marcolin joint venture In February 2017, LVMH, the world's largest luxury goods group, signed a joint venture a

LVMH and Marcolin joint venture In February 2017, LVMH, the world's largest luxury goods group, signed a joint venture agreement with Italian eyewear manufacturer Marcolin Group to form a new company, Th茅lios, in which LVMH holds 51% of the shares and Marcolin holds the remaining 49%.

Under the agreement, the Marcolin Group will be responsible for the design, production, distribution and promotion of several LVMH eyewear collections. In January of the same year, Luxottica Group SpA, the global leader in the eyewear industry, announced that it would merge with Essilor International SA, the industry leader, with an investment of up to 46 billion euros. The combined new company, Essilor Luxottica, will account for more than half of the global eyewear market of 鈧?5 billion; In addition, Gucci's eyewear business began to be managed within Kering SA.

At the time, the partnership between LVMH and Marcolin was seen as an important step for the two groups to jointly enter the eyewear industry, seize market share in the industry, and bring another shock to the eyewear industry. At the end of April this year, the joint venture company Th茅lios was finally officially established. The new company is located in Longarone, Belluno, a major producer of eyewear in northern Italy, where Marcolin's headquarters are also located.

The company started production of C茅line eyewear in December last year. This will be followed by the second quarter of the Loewe brand's first eyewear collection, followed by the end of 2018 the eyewear line of the jewellery brand Fred. Jean-Baptiste Voisin, Group Strategy Director at LVMH, said: "The eyewear industry is an extremely complex industry and one of the few that currently operates under a licensing model.

LVMH did not want to take risks in this area, so it wanted to find an industry expert to work with. "Marcolin is truly an excellent choice. Founded in Italy in 1961, Marcolin designs, manufactures and distributes eyewear. In 2016, Marcolin sold nearly 14 million pairs of eyewear worldwide, with net sales of more than 442 million euros, and it has 28 global distributors including Tom Ford, Tod's, Balenciaga, Roberto Cavalli, Montblanc, Zegna, Pucci, Moncler, Omega and Diesel and 9 US market distributors such as Kenneth Cole.

According to Grand View Research, a U.S. market consulting company, the eyewear industry has grown rapidly in recent years, with a total market value of nearly $100 billion in 2015, and with the increasing concern about eye health and vision issues, this market is expected to continue to grow steadily and healthily in the future, and Latin America and Asia are the two most promising markets.

In recent years, many new faces have emerged in the eyewear industry, especially in the sunglasses industry, which is playing a big fashion card. Whether it's the Gentle Monster blessed by Korean stars, or the American niche brand Priv茅 Revaux, the Australian local brand Quay, or the collaboration between Vogue Eyewear and Gigi Hadid, most of them have a sense of fashion design and high cost performance.

To compete with these dynamic brands, established luxury groups like LVMH may need to work a little more on rejuvenation. Recommended reading brands: international eyewear brands.