Evolution of Opti

Just as the Opti trade show season opener in Munich has evolved in recent years, so too have the eyewear brands and designers that reside within the six halls.

Regular reporting from trade shows around the world has somewhat desensitised this Optician reporter from the hyperbole around new launches and innovation. Instead, this regular watching brief over the eyewear industry has allowed Optician to analyse how brands evolve and develop their concepts. It is also easier to see the designers with staying power rather than flash in the pan ideas.

There have been many brands that have ridden the crest of the wooden eyewear wave over the past five or six years without due consideration for the optical appliance aspects of their product. Feb31st is a brand that was first in the pages of Optician in 2011 following the launch at Silmo in the same year. At the time, wooden eyewear was still something of a novelty, but the brand’s approach to fulfilling the needs of opticians was more evident than some of the others at the time – carefully sunken screws around the lugs to assist glazing, for example.