Lvmh in the field for the Longarone plant that Safilo wants to close
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Lvmh neither confirms nor denies; the same goes for the unions and local authorities who have been involved in the negotiations for months. But the rumors of an interest by the French giant – the leading luxury group in the world, with revenues of 80 billion in 2022 – in the historic Safilo plant in Longarone (photo above), in the heart of the Belluno eyewear district, seem to be well founded .
Strategic luxury business, as demonstrated by Kering Eyewear
The collections of sun and optical frames are increasingly strategic for the image and business of luxury brands (they can be seen on the catwalk and have dedicated corners in single-brand stores) and this is why both Lvmh and the other group of French luxury, Kering, number two in the world in the high range, decided some time ago to insource eyewear, keeping production in the Belluno area, given the excellence of the district, known throughout the world (exports are around 90% ). The group led by Francois Pinault in particular. gave life, in 2014, to Kering Eyewear, a company based in Padua and led by Roberto Vedovotto, who was also CEO of Safilo in the past, and which in 2022 achieved extraordinary growth, closing at 1.1 billion euro (+58% on 2021), also thanks to two important deals, Lindberg and Maui Jim.
The choice of business model of Lvmh
Lvmh made a more industrial choice right from the start, giving life, in 2017, to Thélios, which from the joint venture it was with Marcolin (among the Italian leaders together with Luxottica, Safilo and De Rigo), is now 100% of the group French. Gradually, all the licenses that Lvmh had entrusted to Italian companies entered Thélios’ portfolio: the latest in chronological order is that of Bulgari (the announcement was made at the beginning of May), which for several years has been successfully supporting to jewels and watches categories of accessories such as bags, small leather goods and, of course, glasses. Already on the occasion of Mido, the large sector fair held once a year in Milan, operators and analysts had bet on Thélios’ interest in the Safilo plant, for which the company (listed on the Milan Stock Exchange) he had clearly stated that he was «looking for alternative solutions» (see Il Sole 24 Ore of 28 February).
Need to support business growth
The reason is simple: the Lvmh company needs production capacity in the face of double-digit organic growth also confirmed by the first quarter results, which exceeded 20 billion. Since the end of February, the unions have been shuttling between the historic Safilo eyewear and metal frame factory and the offices of the municipality and local authorities, also thanks to the interest in the negotiations shown right from the start by the president of Veneto, Luca Zaia and by the regional labor councilor Elena Donazzan, who has been following the Safilo affair for three months together with the corporate crisis unit of the Veneto region.
The employment and training node
468 people work in the Longarone plant, one tenth of the inhabitants of Longarone, where both Marcolin and Thélios already have plants. However, they are much more modern than that of Safilo and the negotiation seems to be concentrated precisely on the need for personnel cuts and possible support from the institutions for a reskilling of the people who work in Longarone, whose average age risks being an obstacle.
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