Leonardo Del Vecchio

Leonardo Del Vecchio founded Luxottica in Agordo, Italy, in 1961. Born in Milan in 1935, he grew up without his father and spent part of his childhood at the Martinitt institution. At fourteen he began work at Johnson, a maker of medals. Evening study at the Brera Academy and work with skilled colleagues helped him learn drawing, engraving and mould making. Those skills later carried into metal parts for eyewear. Before Luxottica, Del Vecchio ran a small workshop near Milan while keeping a paid job. He moved its equipment to Agordo, where the local government offered support for new businesses. He founded Luxottica with two customers and business partners, Francesco Da Cortà and Vittorio Toscani, and later bought their interests. The company first supplied components and partly finished products to other makers. It then brought more production steps inside the business and began making complete frames. Its 1971 presentation at the MIDO trade fair marked its move toward selling its own finished eyewear. Del Vecchio expanded beyond the factory. Luxottica bought the distributor Scarrone in 1974, entered fashion licensing with Giorgio Armani in 1988 and acquired the owner of LensCrafters in 1995. The purchase of Ray-Ban in 1999 added an owned brand and lens-making skills. These steps joined manufacturing, brands, wholesale sales and shops in one business. Fashion licenses could widen its appeal, while owned brands reduced its dependence on agreements that could end. The combination of Essilor and Luxottica closed in October 2018, bringing lenses and frames into EssilorLuxottica, with Del Vecchio as executive chairman. He died in June 2022. His career offers a detailed case of building from a practical craft into a larger system of production and distribution. The useful questions concern each step: which skills to keep inside, which customer relationship to own, and what an acquisition adds beyond its name.