(Press Release)
A new management team has been established for a company of four brands that is announcing a new name: Design eyewear group.
“We are a house of strong individual design brands, each with a clear positioning, and we wish to express this through our new group name,” says Lars Flyvholm, group CEO.
Since integrating the four brands – Prodesign denmark, InFace, WOOW and Face à Face – in 2014, the group has worked to develop a strategic platform and an expansion strategy. In 2015, the Design eyewear group realized double-digit growth in both turnover and earnings. The group posted growth for three out of its four brands, with the strongest relative growth by WOOW, followed closely by Face A Face and Prodesign denmark.
“Through our focus on developing strong collections under our brands, we have both created organic growth in sales to existing customers and succeeded in attracting new customers. One year after the integration of the group’s brands, we are posting more than 30 percent top-line growth, while net profit is up by just over 50 percent relative to the year before,” says Flyvholm.
He adds: “Under our highly competent and broadly experienced management team, and our strong international organization, we will continue to invest in developing the Design eyewear group and our brands. We have high expectations for growth and earnings in 2016.”
The new and enlarged management team has been recruited both from the company’s own ranks and from outside the company. The team brings long-standing experience from the industry as well as experience with international sourcing, production and logistics, sales and marketing.
The Design eyewear group is present in more than 40 countries and is continuing to expand in Europe, the U.S. and Asia. The expansion is based on a channel strategy which is tailored to the personalities of the various brands.
“The USA, which accounts for more than 40 percent of the total turnover of Design eyewear group, is a growing market and our most important market. In April we went to New York for the Vision Expo East show and returned home with full order books,” says Flyvholm. “However, just as interestingly, we are gaining market share in Europe and investing in Asia.”
“We are a company driven by design. Design is our vision and our DNA. Some of our brands are in the classic and timeless style, while others are more ‘high-pulse’, fun and trendy,” says CCO Pascal Jaulent, the group’s French chief designer. “What our brands have in common is that we create designs for the times and for the individual – eyewear which doesn’t just look good, but really makes you look good.”
Jaulent adds that the company’s customers include many independent opticians: “Frames from the Design eyewear group are not low-end. We offer a level of high service and inspiring collections which make it possible for our customers to offer personal and individual service and carefully selected high-quality frames in Scandinavian and French designs. At the Design eyewear group, we want to be close to our customers and our end-users. This is the only way we can be an attractive partner, offer personal service and great products.”