PARIS — Luxury eyewear label Ahlem has recruited Enrico Sanavia as its first chief executive officer.
This is the first time the 10-year-old independent brand has hired a CEO. The executive joined the company on Thursday and succeeds founder and creative director Ahlem Manai-Platt, who will concentrate on creative direction and design.
Sanavia’s “exceptional track record in the luxury eyewear sector, coupled with his deep understanding of consumer trends,” made him a fitting choice for a roadmap that includes doubling the size of the business in three years, said Manai-Platt.
He will be based in New York City.
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Most recently, the Italian native served as head of Thélios Americas, the U.S. subsidiary of the LVMH-owned eyewear manufacturer, a role he held for seven years and which saw him play a pivotal role in establishing a strong market presence, including the launch of the company’s first direct subsidiary in Latin America. He also served as president of Vuarnet, the French eyewear label acquired by Thélios in 2023.
Prior to that, he spent eight years at Safilo, lastly as New York-based vice president of brand management. A graduate of the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice in Italy, he cut his teeth in marketing and strategy at United Colors of Benetton.
For Manai-Platt, Sanavia’s appointment is a departure from the company’s first decade as a “very horizontal” organization and signals a readiness for the next step of growth.
“He is coming to a company that has structure, has operations ready for him to actually do his job properly,” she told WWD in a joint interview. “If he came into a team that had no experience, he can’t do magic. But now, he can grow the company in the right direction, which is making everything so strong and serve the objective of making Ahlem the most recognizable luxury eyewear brand in the world.”
Having followed Ahlem’s development over the years, the new executive expressed enthusiasm at joining “a brand with a unique positioning, that has built such a strong legacy.”
Sanavia said its trifecta of a timeless style proposition, quality product and current strong position in France, the U.S. and Japan were solid assets and formed the ideal springboard for the next phase of development.
His priority will be further solidifying the company’s position in its existing markets, which also include South Korea and Northern Europe, thanks to increased investments in pop-ups and visibility.
“The brand awareness is already global, but we still have important luxury markets that we are not exploiting such as the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Brazil and Mexico,” the CEO said. “[They are] a great opportunity that I want to concentrate on to scale up the business.”
Founded in 2014 in Los Angeles by Manai-Platt, Ahlem hit the 15-million-euro mark in sales for 2022 and currently counts 35 employees, including a 11-strong team handling the in-house logistics centers in France and the U.S. Its small-batch collections are manufactured in four factories in France.
In addition to its four flagships — Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Paris — there are over 900 Ahlem retailers around the world.
The company said its top three markets of the U.S., Japan and France now account for 50 percent as the brand has expanded to further territories and grown by high-double-digit percent annually.
The bespoke service launched in 2024, where clients can have one-of-a-kind frames developed from scratch by Manai-Platt and her design team, will also be further expanded.
Already in the pipeline for 2025 are projects such as a capsule collection focusing on an innovative metal construction technique and a collaboration with Red, the nonprofit organization founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver to support the fight against AIDS.
Launching in February, the Ahlem x (Red) limited-edition set includes a custom cleaning cloth created in collaboration with Ghanaian artist Oheneba-Takyi Joshua.
