March 22 2019  |  Industry News

Social media star Hailey Bieber catapults Bolon Eyewear into Americas travel retail

By Hibah Noor in Miami

The Costa and Bolon Buying Days – attended by Americas Duty Free – took place in the upscale Mondrian South Beach hotel in Miami. Francesco Leccisi, Vice President, Asia Pacific & Oceania & Global Travel Retail, took some time out from his busy schedule to strike a pose!


Eyewear giant Essilor Luxottica means business with the debut of its Bolon Eyewear fashion brand into Americas travel retail.

Top model and social media star Hailey Bieber is the Brand Ambassador for Bolon Eyewear and fronts its new ad campaign.

The brand made its debut into Americas travel retail in glamorous style during a buying event in Miami on March 18-20.


The Costa and Bolon Buying Days – attended by Americas Duty Free – took place in the upscale Mondrian South Beach hotel in Miami, where journalists, bloggers and trade buyers mingled with Bolon and Costa representatives and models who posed in the newest sunglass styles.

Americas Duty Free’s Editor-in-Chief Hibah Noor poses with Monty Montañez, Director of Bolon Americas, during the Costa and Bolon Buying Days event in Miami on March 18-20


The two-day event showcased Essilor Luxottica’s Costa sports eyewear brand and put the spotlight firmly on its lesser known sister brand Bolon Eyewear, which celebrated its debut in Americas travel retail, following a hugely successful introduction in Latin American domestic markets.


The Bolon Eyewear brand focuses on fashion, design and craftsmanship at a very accessible price, according to Director of Bolon Americas Monty Montañez, who is spearheading the introduction of the brand into Americas travel retail, as well as the region’s domestic markets.

Since its launch into Latin American domestic markets in July last year, Bolon Eyewear is already present in more than 23 countries and targeting an additional 16 countries by end of 2019, thanks to Essilor Luxottica’s distribution partner, Miami-based Charm Eyewear. Now the brand is being targeted at Americas travel retailers, with Montañez working on the travel retail launch with the Essilor Luxottica team led by Francesco Leccisi, Vice President, Asia Pacific & Oceania & Global Travel Retail.

Explaining the Americas brand strategy, Montañez told Americas Duty Free: “For the Bolon brand launch we have a focused, multi-pronged launch strategy. Our center of gravity is initially Latin America and Caribbean domestic markets. I knew it would be a success, but I didn’t realize it would be this kind of success – it has outpaced every expectation that we had as a brand.”

Now, Hudson News, part of Dufry Group, is getting set to launch the brand in travel retail. “Hudson will soon be the first to launch the brand within Americas travel retail. The Dufry team is coming to this event. We’ll be looking at Costa and discussing Bolon, so I’ll be sharing the exciting news about Hudson with them,” enthused Montañez, who directly handles the Dufry Group account.

“Bolon is new to Americas travel retail. There’s so much energy and buzz around the brand – in Latin America it’s there, it’s winning, and we’re ready to launch in travel retail. It’s the first time the buyers are seeing it here.”

The Bolon brand is already well distributed in Asia, boasting high-profile listings with DFS, Starboard, Shilla, and King Power Thailand.

Last year, Bolon expanded into Europe, in countries such as Spain, Italy, the UK and France, where it has been “extraordinarily successful”, according to Montañez.

The two-day event in Miami showcased the Costa sports eyewear brand and put the spotlight on its lesser known sister brand Bolon Eyewear, which launches in Americas travel retail





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