A dynamic reality
WMIDO met the Founder and CEO of Mondottica, Michael Jardine.Established in 2003 and headquartered in Hong Kong, Mondottica was founded by a Canadian who runs the company with working shareholders from Germany, Britain, France, India and Australia. Now the group has offices and operations in Hong Kong, London, Paris, New York and Sydney with distribution reach that spans all continents. Its product development team operates from London, Hong Kong, Canada and Paris.Holding the licenses for a wide range of lifestyle and fashion brands, namely Anna Sui, Cath Kidston, Christian Lacroix, Ducati, Hackett, Joules, Le Coq Sportif, Karen Millen, Maje, Marimekko, Pepe Jeans, Sandro, Ted Baker (worldwide except USA and Canada) and Zoobug, ensures that Mondottica caters for a broad demographic of style conscious consumers.The latest licen see agreement has been signed with Italian premium motorcycle brand Ducati for the brand’s three collections: Ducati, Ducati Corse and Ducati Scrambler. And according to Mondottica founder and CEO, Michael Jardine, a new agreement will be announced soon.In this interview he also talks about the recent acquisition of artisanal French eyewear manufacturer and distributor, Lunettes Yves Cogan. Could you introduce your group to our readers?Mondottica is a multi-faceted global eyewear company with operations in all key world markets and distribution reach in excess of 100 countries. From sales of US$100,000 in our inception year of 2002, we will exceed US$100 million in turnover next year. You have recently acquired the artisanal French eyewear manufacturer and distributor Lunettes Yves Cogan. What's the purpose of the acquisition?The Lunettes Yves Cogan acquisition met several criteria for us. It brought us a respected French brand, as well as giving us increased manufacturing capacity in France. Additionally, it gave us an additional sales force and distribution and logistics capability in France and, ultimately, in Europe.Another recent news is the license with Italian premium motorcycle brand Ducati. How will it develop?Ducati will be comprised of both beautiful sun and optical collections. It is currently in development and will launch at the coming Silmo.You are running really fast with these agreements! Shall we expect others?We expect another announcement quite soon.Last year Mondottica International merged with Mondottica USA: has this improved your performance in this market?Technically this was not a merger but we did acquire a controlling interest in the company. The resulting growth in sales and profit has been very gratifying.
