How One Of The Biggest Eyewear Brands Determines Sunglasses Trends

“When we translate the DNA of Kate Spade, it’s very optimistic and feminine,” says Arianna Dal Zot, Colors and Materials Research Senior Manager, Safilo. “They look classic from the front, but we have really playful details. Tommy Hilfiger is a modern brand with very American taste, and so we design with identifying colors: red, white and blue. You can always find them in the collection, and their preppy soul is translated into the frames.”

For Isabel Marant, Safilo works closely with the creative director. “They show us what they are developing for the new season,” says Vladimiro Baldin, Chief License Brands & Global Product Officer, Safilo. “They provide us their color cards and direction, sometimes initial mood boards and materials.” That is transferred and translated into eyewear collections.

They also work with some brands on their fashion shows, including Isabel Marant. “What you see on the on the catwalk is also what we do for that season,” Baldin says. “We also do some special pieces just for runway. The fashion show is more aspirational, but we try to be brave and sell some crazy stuff. We try to stay very, very close [to each other’s vision] because we need each other. We need a brand to boost the image of the eyewear and vice versa; the eyewear needs to be coherent and make sure that we are brand building together. This is the mission.”

Safilo also works to help new brands, such as Eyewear by David Beckham, develop their own unique aesthetic. “David wanted to keep a distance from the soccer player and be his own brand, around something more British,” Baldin says. “Together, we created something more timeless. Everything is inspired by vintage pieces and items.” Safilo will be launching Victoria Beckham’s eyewear collection for the spring-summer 2026 season, hitting shelves this January.

Additionally, trend predictions and trade shows, such as Vision Expo, help Safilo determine the creative direction each season. But practically anything can serve as a muse. “Furniture, shoes—any influence can be useful to understand where we are going,” Zot says. “We also use the catalog that our raw material supplier presents us every six months so we are updated about new technology. Going to our archive, we are looking for historical pieces that can help us to represent and translate again the new trend, taking suggestions from the past.”

Inspiration from the past

Safilo holds an enormous vintage collection of eyewear, from both their own brands and others. They often examine the archives for inspiration, putting a current twist or a new direction on old styles. “Many are based on classics,” Baldin says. “This is another tool that we are using a lot. The archives are suitable for all the brands, no matter the trends.”

Creating new sunglasses takes time, often one year, since they have to create a mold and prototype from scratch. That means they typically have to work further ahead than the rest of the fashion industry.

Data driven

As AI has taken hold in practically every industry, that is driving Safilo as well, in addition to traditional market research. “We work a lot with data,” Baldin says. “We are a data driven company, also enabled by artificial intelligence. Nowadays, we try to mix everything to propose the right recipe for each brand.”

But ultimately, it’s the human touch that drives Safilo and the trends it put out into the world. “This business started more than 90 years ago,” Trocchia says. “It’s a piece of history. One of the characteristics of Safilo is that we are present with our teams in 40 countries. We are fundamentally everywhere.”