Roberto Vedovotto
Chief executive of Kering Eyewear
Roberto Vedovotto is the Italian executive who has led Kering's in house eyewear business since joining the group in 2013, after serving as chief executive of the eyewear maker Safilo. He built Kering Eyewear into a platform that designs, develops and distributes eyewear for Kering's own brands and other luxury and lifestyle labels.
| Role | Chief executive of Kering Eyewear |
|---|---|
| Organisation | Kering Eyewear |
| Joined Kering | 2013 |
| Kering executive committee | From March 2015 |
| Previous role | Chief executive of Safilo |
Who is Roberto Vedovotto?
Roberto Vedovotto is the chief executive of Kering Eyewear, the eyewear company of the French luxury group Kering. He joined Kering in 2013 to lead its move into managing eyewear internally rather than through licences, and in March 2015 he was appointed to Kering's executive committee. Before that he was chief executive of Safilo, one of the world's largest eyewear manufacturers.
Career
Vedovotto started his career in finance before moving into the eyewear industry:
- Investment banking: senior management roles at Morgan Stanley and at Lehman Brothers and Nomura
- Safilo: chief executive until October 2013, when Luisa Delgado succeeded him and he moved to a non executive board role
- 2013: joins Kering to lead its eyewear division
- March 2015: joins Kering's executive committee
Announcing his appointment to the executive committee, Kering chairman and chief executive François-Henri Pinault said Vedovotto's expertise in the eyewear industry and his knowledge of the fashion and luxury world would be a valuable contribution.
Influence on the fashion business
Eyewear is an important category for luxury brands, offering accessible price points and wide distribution through opticians and travel retail. For decades most fashion houses licensed their eyewear to specialist manufacturers such as Safilo and Luxottica. Kering's decision to build an in house eyewear platform, led by Vedovotto, was a significant departure from that model and gave the group direct control over design, product development, distribution and brand image in the category.
Kering Eyewear serves the group's luxury, sport and lifestyle brands through a single platform. The platform model means that a single specialised organisation handles eyewear for brands with very different identities, from high fashion houses to sport and lifestyle labels.
Having led Safilo, a major licensee, before building Kering Eyewear, Vedovotto has worked on both sides of the licensing relationship, which gives him an unusually complete view of how luxury eyewear is designed, produced and sold.
Why it matters
Roberto Vedovotto is one of the key figures behind the shift from licensing to vertical integration in luxury eyewear. His work at Kering has influenced how other luxury groups think about controlling categories that were long outsourced, with consequences for licensees, opticians and brands across the accessories market.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Roberto Vedovotto?
Roberto Vedovotto is the chief executive of Kering Eyewear. He joined Kering in 2013 after serving as chief executive of Safilo and previously worked in investment banking at Morgan Stanley and Lehman Brothers and Nomura.
What is Roberto Vedovotto known for?
He is known for building Kering's in house eyewear business, which brought the category under the group's direct control instead of licensing it to outside manufacturers.