Rodenstock Eyewear reveals a new vision of style
Rodenstock’s Spring/Summer 2019 campaign features sunglasses from the Retro Classic series
Rodenstock, Germany’s leading manufacturer of eyewear lenses and frames, has gives its eponymous brand a fresh look.
Under the tagline “A New Vision of Style“, Rodenstock is positioning the spectacles as an iconic design object.
The new collection and the advertising campaign blend retro and modern elements.
The new look was revealed to VIP guests, social media influencers and the media – including Americas Duty Free magazine – at a catwalk show held in Munich’s Deutsches Museum on January 24.
The fashion show coincided with the Opti 2019 opticians’ trade fair, where Rodenstock displayed the collection on its booth.
Models sport the latest sunglasses at Rodenstock’s fashion show in Munich
The traditional Munich-based company is using its 142 years of experience in frame design as the foundation for the revamp.
“Since 1877, our brand has stood for German engineering skill at the highest level, aesthetics, precision, tremendous passion for quality and a love of detail,” said Kilian Manninger, Head of Business Unit Eyewear & Global Marketing.
The new-look brand and the new product concepts seek to combine these strengths.
“It is our objective to use this to clearly differentiate Rodenstock from competitors as a modern brand with a clearly defined profile which indeed draws on the past but is still in touch with the latest trends,” he said.
Reinterpretations of popular classics form the heart of the collection, which is inspired by the company’s archive. The result pays homage to its iconic designs, which remain current today.
The oversized Lady R sunglasses echo the proportions of the 60s
For example, the Rodenstock Diplomat model from the late 50s provides the style template for the T-Style Attitude model – a modern revival of the Clubmaster look.
The oversized Lady R sunglasses echo the proportions of the 60s, while model R7086 is described as another example of timeless design in combination with high-level craftsmanship, precision grinding and intelligent technology.
Inspired by the formal dress code of the 20s, the spectacles were reworked in a futuristic way for the new collection, forming part of the Retro Classic series. The titanium model is lightweight with character, the company said.
A cool look from the Rodenstock eyewear show in Munich
Rodenstock is also building on a mix of retro and modern with the new ad campaign. A New Vision of Style consists of 12 key visuals, 12 stills, a lookbook (print and digital) as well as a brand film. It breaks in January 2019 in online, print and TV media.
Rodenstock in travel retail
Rodenstock is best known in travel retail as the licensee of the Porsche Design sunglasses brand.
Following the successful implementation of this fashion-led brand in the channel, Rodenstock is also turning its attention to its own eponymous eyewear brand.
Speaking with Americas Duty Free after the Rodenstock fashion show in Munich, Petra Eckhardt-Koestler, Head of Travel Retail, said she believed the Rodenstock brand had big potential in the sunglasses and reading tools categories, which are both growing segments in travel retail.
“Rodenstock is one of the top five optical companies in the world and eyewear has been our core competence for 142 years,” she said. “The Rodenstock brand is sold in more than 85 countries, so it makes sense to work on how to implement it in travel retail as a competence brand with a medium-term approach. We know that travel retail is brand- and fashion- driven, and we’re working on how to make the brand more valuable to travel retailers.”
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