Japanese framemaker Charmant has signed the license for sports brand Puma for all markets except North America, where Luxottica has struck a retail and wholesale deal.
The first eyewear collection will be presented to the retailers in summer this year and will be available to consumers by the end of 2006.
Charmant makes and sells eyewear for Elle, Esprit, the high-end Christian Roth and, until later this year when the licenses are taken over by Safilo, Boss and Hugo Boss.
Luxottica will become the exclusive retail and wholesale distributor in the key North American market in addition to distributing the new Puma collections through its entire retail network worldwide.
Jochen Zeitz, chief executive and chairman of Puma said: 'Eyewear is a logical extension of our brand, yet requires significant category-specific know-how and infrastructure, which Charmant Inc., as truly international player, is able to offer.'
Charmant chief executive and chairman Kaoru Horikawa said, 'We are extremely pleased with the new license agreement and we look forward to working with our new partner.
'Puma is one of the most successful sport/lifestyle companies and this co-operation will help us to further expand our business in design and lifestyle oriented market segments.
'Puma’s unique and sophisticated design language will inspire our product team to create totally new and innovative eyewear designs.'
