Thélios, the French eyewear manufacturer and subsidiary of the LVMH group, has acquired Vuarnet from the investment fund NEO Investment Partners.
Thélios, the LVMH group’s manufacturer of optical and sunglass frames, is embarking on external growth. On Tuesday, it announced the acquisition of the Vuarnet eyewear brand.
Thélios’ acquisition of Vuarnet, the legendary brand of high-end mountain and snow eyewear, marks the company’s first acquisition since its creation in 2017. The amount paid to the current owner, investment fund NEO Investment Partners, was not disclosed.
A summit meeting and synergies in sight
As announced in the official press release, this transaction marks an important step in the development of Thélios, strengthening its presence across the entire eyewear value chain. Thanks to its unique positioning at the crossroads of outdoor and fashion, Vuarnet will perfectly complement the portfolio of LVMH brands under license.
Alessandro Zanardo, CEO of Thélios, welcomed the acquisition, making Vuarnet “the first brand owner” of this subsidiary of the LVMH group.
Behind the House’s remarkable history, Alessandro Zanardo praised its “iconic design, unrivalled expertise […] and recognized values of innovation, performance and elegance” which “perfectly match our philosophy and positioning.”
Joining Thélios will guarantee Vuarnet access to its resources, particularly in terms of research and development and technical expertise. In addition, the eyewear brand will be able to benefit from the international presence of the LVMH subsidiary, promoting the brand’s growth and global expansion.
An iconic brand for extreme situations
An iconic brand specializing in high-end eyewear for high altitudes, Vuarnet has a rich heritage spanning more than six decades and is a pioneer in the production of mineral lenses.
The adventure began in the French Alps in 1957 with Roger Pouilloux, an avant-garde optician determined to create lenses “capable of enhancing visual acuity and accentuating relief on snow”. This was to be the Skilynx™ ski-specific lens.
It wasn’t long before the brand enjoyed unrivalled popularity thanks to French skier Jean Vuarnet, who equipped with the famous bi-graded lenses, model 02, won the gold medal in the downhill at the Olympic Games in Squaw Valley, California, near Lake Tahoe. It was a seminal victory that marked the union of optician and sportsman through a licensing agreement.
This marked the beginning of a golden age for the brand, which was chosen as official partner of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. By the 1990s, the brand was generating sales of nearly $100 million and selling 1.5 million pairs a year.
Since then, Vuarnet has accompanied countless outdoor enthusiasts, including celebrities immortalized on the silver screen, such as Alain Delon in La Piscine (1969), Jeff Bridges in The Big Lebowski (1998) and Daniel Craig in James Bond – Spectre (2015).
But the brand has also succeeded in establishing itself in the eyewear sector thanks to its expertise in combining innovation, performance and timeless style.
Behind its timeless success lies a rare process: the in-house manufacture of mineral lenses.
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The brand is thus the originator of Vuarnet’s proprietary Lynx™ technology, which filters out 100% of harmful infrared and 93% of UV. Blocking sunlight directed towards the sensitive upper part of the eyes, as well as the reverberation of light from snow and water reflections towards the lower part of the eyes, it remains a must-have for high-altitude activities.
Indeed, if Vuarnet is renowned for the unique design of its creations, this is out of all proportion to their high level of technicality.
Cutting-edge R&D has seen its production site in Meaux awarded the “Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant” (EPV) label by the French government.
In the 2000s and 2010s, successive management changes and a lack of investment led to the company’s decline, to the benefit of its direct competitor Ray-Ban.
At the dawn of the 2010 decade, Vuarnet joined the Alain Mikli International Group.
The group created by the famous French eyewear and accessories designer was finally acquired in 2012 by Neo Capital Group, the British investment fund behind the internationalization of Ladurée, and Ami. The latter decided to invest several tens of millions of euros to relaunch the brand, which by 2009 was down to 10 million euros in sales.
Vuarnet diversified into skiwear, again via a licensing agreement. At the same time, the eyewear brand opened its first points of sale in the USA, before relocating production there. But these new production and distribution strategies distorted the brand’s exclusive image, as well as its Alpine origins. Neo Capital Group was finally forced to repatriate production to the Seine-et-Marne region of France. The Meaux manufacturing site is still in operation today.
The continuation of a successful joint venture
Thélios, which has set itself the mission of “restoring the brand to its former glory”, said Vuarnet’s expertise in mineral lenses would enable the group to develop its know-how in this field.
Thélios was born in 2017 from the desire of the world number one in luxury goods to enter the eyewear sector by joining forces with the Marcolin group, thus combining Italian design and craftsmanship with the essence of the great Houses. Its name refers to Theia, the Greek goddess of light and sight, and to the sun god Helios.
With the creation of Thélios, the LVMH group intended to internalize the manufacture of eyewear, which until then had been outsourced to specialized licensees such as Luxottica and Marcolin. The result was total control of the product value chain, from creative brief through design and prototyping to production.
Today, Thélios directly manages all eyewear models for 11 emblematic brands, all part of the luxury group’s fashion and leather goods division: Bulgari, Dior, Fendi, Celine, Givenchy, Loewe, Stella McCartney, Kenzo, Berluti, Fred and Rimowa.
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Front cover photo: © Vuarnet
