Safilo Acquires Outlook Eyewear and Wins the Liz Claiborne and J.Lo by Jennifer Lopez Brands

Today the Safilo Group announced that has acquired Outlook Eyewear, the American eyewear distributor based in Denver.With this agreement, Safilo will round out its portfolio with the addition of several licensed eyewear brands Liz Claiborne such as Liz Claiborne, LizSport, Claiborne, Liz Claiborne Readers, Crazy Horse, First Issue and Villager. All the new brands acquired through Outlook will be distributed only in the United States and Canada. In December 2002, the Safilo Group obtained the Liz Claiborne license for the ophthalmic sector.

The first collection of Liz Claiborne sunglasses for the American market will be presented in August 2003. Moreover, through this agreement, in the sunglasses sector the Safilo Group has also obtained the brands J.Lo by Jennifer Lopez and B.U.M. Equipment.

Safilo president Vittorio Tabacchi commented on the new acquisition, 'Outlook is a completely self-sufficient company with its own product-development, marketing, sales and distribution capacities. Its significant market share in the midrange segment of the sunglasses division in the US and Canada was extremely attractive for Safilo, in consideration of its ongoing expansion in this important sector.'