Charmant and Elle Extend Eyewear Licence to 2031, Marking 30th Anniversary
Japanese eyewear manufacturer Charmant Group and French fashion house Elle have renewed their licensing agreement through to 2031, extending a partnership that has now run for three decades.
The announcement, made on 23 June, sees Charmant and Lagardère Group, which owns the Elle brand, celebrate 30 years of collaboration on optical frames and sunglasses.
Charmant was founded in Japan in 1956 and has built a reputation for eyewear engineering and design, underpinned by what the company describes as a culture of innovation and technical advancement. For eyecare professionals stocking the brand, the renewal signals continuity for a collection that has been a fixture on optical dispensing floors for years.
Charmant Group President and CEO Koji Horikawa said Elle was more than an icon of elegance and personal style, pointing to the brand's heritage and ongoing influence on fashion and taste. He added that the extended agreement with Lagardère Active Enterprises would allow the two companies to keep combining Charmant's manufacturing quality with Elle's design sensibility.
On the Elle side, Constance Benqué, CEO of Lagardère News and CEO of Elle International, said the 30-year partnership had been built on creativity, product excellence and a shared commitment to accessible fashion and lifestyle, and that the renewal reflected the strength of a collaboration that has evolved alongside the brand and its markets globally. She said the two companies would look to further extend Elle's reach through eyewear collections balancing style, innovation and quality, while staying true to the brand's free-spirited, positive take on femininity.
A Significant Licensing Footprint
Charmant Group has been operating for 70 years and describes itself as a pioneer in optical R&D, with a global sales network spanning more than 100 countries. The Elle licence sits within a broader house-and-licensed-brand portfolio that the company says underpins its standing as a reliable manufacturing partner for optical retailers worldwide.
Elle, for its part, operates as a global fashion and lifestyle brand well beyond its media roots, with more than 80 print editions worldwide across Elle and Elle Decoration, a monthly print readership of around 32 million, and over 60 digital platforms drawing 90 million unique visitors a month. Its non-media licensing arm spanning fashion, beauty, home decor and hospitality, works with 250 B2B partners across 80 countries, contributing to a combined monthly reach the brand puts at more than 250 million people.
For practices and independent optical retailers carrying the Elle by Charmant range, the renewal offers reassurance that the collection, and its supply chain, is locked in for the next five years, with both companies signalling further collection development to come.
ELLE Eyewear in distributed by Frames Etc in Australia.
