Viva bets on Tommy Hilfiger growth

Together with De Rigo for the Italian distribution of the vision and sunglasses proposals from Tommy Hilfiger, Viva International aims at taking the US private label to the top of the brand portfolio, which also includes Guess?, Ecko, Gant and Harley Davidson.

'The target we have set ourselves for Tommy Hilfiger is to take the label to second place in importance at world level, immediately after Guess?, the historical license that has been active for 14 years', Michele Pope, Marketing Director of Viva International for the Tommy Hilfiger Eyewear Collection explained to Modaonline. 'The world agreement with the fashion house was reached in 2003 and to date the label's first market is without doubt the United States. But Europe has also reached an important position after the launch in August 2004, which was followed more recently by the launch on the Asian market. For the time being, we can say that these are the strongest markets and the ones the group is mainly targeting'.

The company chose Massimo Ambrosini as its testimonial and was described by Tommy Hilfiger himself as 'a very talented athlete who can embody a classical style and freshness that is perfectly in line with the brand'; recently, he was also Viva's guest at Mido.

Projected onto the Italian marketplace with a sales percentage of 60% for sunglasses, the US group confirmed its trust in De Rigo, the Italian distributor also for Guess? 'The choice of De Rigo for Italian distribution was dictated by the strength this group has in the relevant area. Even though it is still impossible to quantify how much this market will influence the Viva Group's turnover as the strategy and distribution work in Italy began this season'.

(Source: Modaonline)