An interview with Massimo Bonfanti, International Sales Manager of Spy Optic

The crisis exists, even in the eyewear sector, but it is felt in different ways. For example, the American market feels it more than the Italian market. This is the opinion of Massimo Bonfanti of Spy Optic, who was interviewed during Mido 2009 and is thinking positively.

“Like many others, our company is also feeling the effects of the crisis, but” Bonfanti said, “not dramatically. Our company’s pillars stand on action and winter sports and it’s been twenty years since we’ve had such a positive experience as we did this year. The foundations of the company in Italy are not feeling it particularly. The American market, where our products are distributed, is feeling the crisis much more than in Italy”.

In that case, we can talk about future projects. “Internationally, the aim is to complete the distribution network and provide our brand with increasingly wider coverage. On the Italian market, our aim is to take the brand out of the action sport niche and place it in other slices of the market as well”.

Bonfanti appeared to be particularly pleased that Mido is moving to early spring. “For us, bringing Mido forward to March is the right decision” was his frank comment. “Considering that our collections are launched in February it’s much better to present them to the public immediately rather than wait until May”.

Expectations also reflected interest in the event’s new collocation. “Our company was set up only a short time ago, so any new contacts made thanks to the exhibition represent an invaluable advantage”. We also asked Massimo Bonfanti a question from our survey about the use of endorsements in promotional campaigns. “Especially at this critical moment, young companies like ours”, he answered, “must find marketing strategies that do not involve the use of endorsements, particularly because of financial limitations that do not allow us to compete with the big names on the market”.