Marie Claire debuts in eyewear segment in India

Marie Claire, the French women’s magazine has marked its foray into eyewear segment in India. The brand has inked licensing agreement with Optiline Eyewear which entitles the latter to manufacture, retail and distribute Marie Claire branded eyeglasses and sunglasses. The deal was mediated by Bradford License India that is the Indian representative of the French brand. This deal is Marie Claire’s third licensing deal in India. The brand has earlier launched apparel with Epic brands followed by fashion jewellery with Rubans in latter half of 2016. Optiline Eyewear is a distributor for Modo, Baendit, Celine Dion and Barberini for the Indian market. Also, it owns licensing rights to manufacture, distribute and retail eyewear for clothing brands namely Allen Solly, Van Heusen and Louis Philippe for the Indian market. Optiline Eyewear has got the experience of selling branded eyewear and had been associated in the past with Safilo Group as well. India is high on the list for most international eyewear companies. In 2013, world’s largest eyewear company Luxottica Group S.p.A launched a campaign especially for India. Luxottica’s brand portfolio includes Ray-Ban, Oakley and Vogue Eyewear besides licensed brands like Giorgio Armani, Chanel, Burberry, Michael Kors, Prada, Bulgari and Ralph. The Indian eyewear market is rapidly growing given the young population and growing awareness of branded eyewear and long wave ultraviolet A (UVA) and short wave ultraviolet B (UVB) sun protection. The market grew at 10 percent per annum for the last five years up to 2015 and going forward it is expected to grow at an even higher clip of 20 percent up to 2018. However, the branded share is less than 30 percent for the eyewear spectacles and frames market while unbranded is over 70 percent.