With net sales of euro €5.2 billion, 62,000 employees and a solid global presence, Luxottica leads the world in premium, luxury and sports eyewear. Founded in 1961 by Leonardo Del Vecchio, the Group is now a vertically integrated organization whose manufacturing of prescription and sun frames is backed up by a wide-reaching wholesale distribution network and over 6,250 stores, mostly in North America, Asia-Pacific and China

Product design, engineering/development and manufacturing take place in six production facilities in Italy, two wholly-owned subsidiaries in the People’s Republic of China and a sports sunglasses plant in California. Luxottica also has a smaller plant in India, serving the local market. In 2008, production reached 50 millions units, of which around 65% made in Italy.

Luxottica products are outstanding in terms of design and high quality and are known all round the world thanks to a strong and well balanced brand portfolio. House brands include Ray-Ban, the world’s best known sun brand, Oakley, Vogue, Persol, Oliver Peoples, Arnette and REVO, while its license brands include Bvlgari, Burberry, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Donna Karan, Polo Ralph Lauren, Prada, Salvatore Ferragamo, Tiffany and Versace. The Group’s wholesale distribution, taking in 130 countries across five continents, has nine logistics centers and 30 commercial branches providing direct operations in the major markets. Penetration in emerging markets and new channels, such as shopping centers, airports and railways stations, is particularly significant.

Direct wholesale operations are mirrored by the world’s most extensive optical retail network. Luxotica leads the prescription segment in North America with its LensCrafters and Pearle Vision chains, in Asia-Pacific with OPSM, Laubman & Pank and Budget Eyewear, and in China with LensCrafters. In the sun segment, the Group operates around 2,300 stores in North America, Asia-Pacific, South Africa, Europe and the Middle East, mainly through the Sunglass Hut brand.

In North America, the world’s biggest optical market in absolute terms, Luxottica also operates licensed brand points of sale, with over 1,200 stores under the Target Optical and Sears Optical brands, as well as being the primary Managed Vision Care operator, through EyeMed, and the second biggest lens finisher, having a network of eight central laboratories and over 900 labs inside LensCrafters stores.

And lastly, control of the Oakley brand, a global icon in optics for sport, provides a powerful presence in the sport market and channel, in which Luxottica Group operates at both a wholesale level and through the single-brand Oakley “O” Stores retail chain.