Metal matters

Metal will be continuing its reign over the eyewear industry in 2019, according to exhibitors at Mido (23–25 February).

Other styles to look out for include the re-emergence of bolder frames and a trend among consumers looking for something more daring.

Speaking to OT at the Milan trade show, company director of Booth & Bruce, Peter Sunderland, said: “I think there will be a re-emergence of bolder frames. The big trend will be towards metals and minimalist frames.”

Founder and managing director of Komono, Anton Janssens, also noted bolder shapes. “I see bold frames, especially in sunglasses, coming back. In optical, it’s still very thin and lightweight frames,” he said. 

Highlighting hexagonal frames, Mr Sunderland said that he thought the style would have been bigger six months ago, but shared: “It’s filtering into the UK market now. The UK tends to follow the other metropolitan areas of Europe.”

Director of business development at Swiss Eyewear Group, Rebecca Harwood Lincoln, also highlighted metal as a big trend for 2019.

“In optical frames, there is a lot more metal for women. Our distributors are telling us that more and more opticians are asking for metal styles,” she explained.

Discussing how the UK compares to other European eyewear markets, she noted that British consumers opt for conservative styles that last. Ms Harwood Lincoln said: “Brits tend to go for the demi-colours such as black or grey while in other markets they like a pop of orange, a brighter blue or teal colours. They go for conservative but classic styles that last from season to season.”

In terms of shapes, cat’s eyes styles were noted by creative team manager at Ogi, Katy Dajnowski. She told OT: “Cat’s eyes are still very popular and are an uplifting shape for women,” adding: “A man might not be inclined to wear a bold, geometric shape, but they might find it interesting to play with texture or some subtle differentiation in colours such as a subtle green.”

“There’s more appeal for metal than ever as well as interesting shapes. People want something more daring,” Ms Dajnowski added.

Image credit: Getty/Tullio M Puglia