(Jan 23): When French President Emmanuel Macron walked out onto a Davos stage sporting a pair of reflective blue aviator sunglasses, Stefano Fulchir, the CEO of iVision Tech SpA, did a double take.
Based in a small town in northeast Italy, the little-known eyeglasses producer had seen its market value dwindle to only about €12 million before the French leader’s appearance put their eyewear at the centre of global attention. The stock has surged since, jumping more than 60% across three sessions and bringing its market capitalisation to €19 million.
“After Macron’s speech in Davos the website crashed due to the volume of orders,” Fulchir said in an interview.
It’s been the best three-day run ever for the stock, which debuted in 2023 and had been sliding in recent months. Shares were up 17% as of 1.08pm in Milan, trading at €2.45 per share.
The Doublé Or Laminé aviators — made entirely in France by iVision’s local unit — garnered almost as much commentary as Macron’s Davos performance, in which he blasted US trade policy. There were comparisons online to Tom Cruise’s character Maverick in the Top Gun films, while US President Donald Trump used his own speech to mock Macron for wearing the glasses.
“Exceptional” volume to the firm’s main website meant Henry Jullien, iVision’s French division, had to create a temporary webpage dedicated to the Doublé Or Laminé model alone. It’s listed at €659.
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“It all started in the summer of 2024, when we were contacted by the Elysee because Macron had to meet a top official during a G20 and wanted to buy a product made in France for a diplomatic gift and then he bought a pair for himself,” Fulchir said. “We offered to send him a pair for free, but he insisted he wanted to pay for it.”
The company was born in 2020, when the Fulchir family bought a local plant of Safilo, another Italian eyewear-maker. It started producing face masks during the pandemic, then it went back to frames. It acquired Henry Jullien in September 2023 after its IPO in August. The following year, it went on an M&A spree, buying four companies in 2024 alone.
In the future, the company may look at possible acquisitions in China in a bid to develop its smart eyeglasses business, Fulchir said.
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