Italian designers return to roots and see exports rise

Designers are turning back to the ‘made in Italy’ tag as locally manufactured eyewear hits an all-time high on International markets, delegates to last weekend’s MIDO heard in Milan.

At the show market research firm GfK announced a rise of 11.8 per cent in exports of eyewear made in Italy in 2014. This is a new record for the Italian eyewear industry which sold over  Euros 3.1bn worth of eyewear. Exports of Italian manufactured eyewear to the UK rose by 23.7 per cent for sunglasses and 29.1 per cent for optical frames. Cirillo Marcolin, President of MIDO and  Italian trade body ANFAO explained: ‘Luxury eyewear accounts for 70 per cent of Italian production. In a time of recession the Italian companies focused their development on high end products to benefit from their higher value’.