PARIS — Luxurious eyewear label Ahlem has recruited Enrico Sanavia as its first chief govt officer.
That is the primary time the 10-year-old impartial model has employed a CEO. The manager joined the corporate on Thursday and succeeds founder and artistic director Ahlem Manai-Platt, who will focus on artistic route and design.
Sanavia’s “distinctive observe document within the luxurious eyewear sector, coupled together with his deep understanding of client traits,” made him a becoming selection for a roadmap that features doubling the dimensions of the enterprise in three years, stated Manai-Platt.
He shall be primarily based in New York Metropolis.
Ahlem Manai-Platt
Courtesy of Ahlem
Most lately, the Italian native served as head of Thélios Americas, the U.S. subsidiary of the LVMH-owned eyewear producer, a job he held for seven years and which noticed him play a pivotal function in establishing a powerful market presence, together with the launch of the corporate’s first direct subsidiary in Latin America. He additionally served as president of Vuarnet, the French eyewear label acquired by Thélios in 2023.
Previous to that, he spent eight years at Safilo, lastly as New York-based vice chairman of name administration. A graduate of the Ca’ Foscari College of Venice in Italy, he minimize his tooth in advertising and marketing and technique at United Colours of Benetton.
For Manai-Platt, Sanavia’s appointment is a departure from the corporate’s first decade as a “very horizontal” group and indicators a readiness for the subsequent step of progress.
“He’s coming to an organization that has construction, has operations prepared for him to really do his job correctly,” she informed WWD in a joint interview. “If he got here right into a crew that had no expertise, he can’t do magic. However now, he can develop the corporate in the suitable route, which is making every thing so robust and serve the target of constructing Ahlem essentially the most recognizable luxurious eyewear model on this planet.”
Having adopted Ahlem’s improvement through the years, the brand new govt expressed enthusiasm at becoming a member of “a model with a singular positioning, that has constructed such a powerful legacy.”
Sanavia stated its trifecta of a timeless type proposition, high quality product and present robust place in France, the U.S. and Japan had been strong property and fashioned the perfect springboard for the subsequent part of improvement.
His precedence shall be additional solidifying the corporate’s place in its present markets, which additionally embody South Korea and Northern Europe, because of elevated investments in pop-ups and visibility.
The Ahlem spring 2025 marketing campaign.
Courtesy of Ahlem
“The model consciousness is already world, however we nonetheless have essential luxurious markets that we aren’t exploiting such because the Center East, Southeast Asia, Brazil and Mexico,” the CEO stated. “[They are] a terrific alternative that I need to focus on to scale up the enterprise.”
Based in 2014 in Los Angeles by Manai-Platt, Ahlem hit the 15-million-euro mark in gross sales for 2022 and presently counts 35 staff, together with a 11-strong crew dealing with the in-house logistics facilities in France and the U.S. Its small-batch collections are manufactured in 4 factories in France.
Along with its 4 flagships — Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Paris — there are over 900 Ahlem retailers around the globe.
The corporate stated its high three markets of the U.S., Japan and France now account for 50 % because the model has expanded to additional territories and grown by high-double-digit % yearly.
The bespoke service launched in 2024, the place shoppers can have one-of-a-kind frames developed from scratch by Manai-Platt and her design crew, can even be additional expanded.
Already within the pipeline for 2025 are initiatives corresponding to a capsule assortment specializing in an modern metallic development method and a collaboration with Purple, the nonprofit group based by Bono and Bobby Shriver to help the battle in opposition to AIDS.
Launching in February, the Ahlem x (Purple) limited-edition set features a customized cleansing material created in collaboration with Ghanaian artist Oheneba-Takyi Joshua.