Italian eyewear: the trend of growth continues
Italian eyewear continues to register excellent results: the total number of exports since the start of the year, in the period between January and November, is over 1 billion 892 million euros, with an increase of 19.2% compared to the same period, January-November, in 2005. 
The protagonists of this performance are exports from the sunglasses sector (over 1 billion 200 million euros with +24.1% compared to the same period in 2005), and also the significant growth registered by exports of frames, which increased by 11.5% compared to the previous year with 625 million euros.
In terms of quantity, in the eleven months of 2006 Italian companies in the sector exported over 42 million pairs of sunglasses and 26 million frames.
The areas, which most value the creativity and quality of Made in Italy eyewear, a reference for export sector, are, in first place, Europe, which absorbs over 49.2% of exports, with an increase of 20.3% in January-November 2006, followed by America, which holds a share of approximately 32.4% of Italian eyewear exports, with a growth in exports of 18.6% compared to the same period in 2005. There is good growth of the Asian market, which remains stable, absorbing 13.6% of total exports in the sector, with +26.5% compared to the same period, January-November in 2005.
Analyzing the single countries in detail:
- In the United States (the first market of reference for Italian eyewear with a share of approximately 28%), the total export of sunglasses-vision eyewear was +14.3% compared to the figure in January-November 2005. A great difference between the two sectors: while the export of frames basically remained stable, increasing by just 0.7%, the sunglasses sector registered +21.7%.
- In Europe, France, Spain, Germany and England are particularly susceptible to the appeal of Italian eyewear, and a reference for the sector after the United States: in France, in the period January-November 2006, the export of frames grew by 14.1% and the export of sunglasses by 21.5% compared to the same period in 2005; in Spain frames grew by +14% and sunglasses by +35.5%; in Germany the vision sector registered +3.8% and the sunglasses sector +32.8%; lastly, in England, the export of frames grew by +9.2% and the export of sunglasses by 27.4%.
- The trend of Italian eyewear exports to Russia, a market of great interest to the whole sector for its potential, is excellent, with a total of +19.4%, expressed as +25.2% for frames and +17% for sunglasses compared to January-November 2005.
- In the eleven months, interesting performance was recorded by the total export of sunglasses and frames in a number of countries, which, despite having still relative values, might represent important potential end markets in the future: Mexico (+113.7%), India (+61.2%), Brazil (+21.1%), Arab Emirates (+26.7%).
The vitality of the market is also shown by the contemporary activity of imports, mainly from Asia, with Europe in second place, which have totaled around 597 million euros since the start of 2006.
Finally, to put the sector into context in I-Style, we can see that although the scenario is relatively positive for all Made in Italy sectors in the eleven months (+ 4.8%), eyewear is the sector, which shows the most significant growth in the number of exports (+19.2%).
This growth is all the more significant in the United States (+14.2%), where other sectors have encountered greater difficulty in recovering, determining a drop of 2.1% in exports for all of I-Style in the period January-November 2006.
