Eyewear brand Theo buys into Komono

Hip Belgian eyewear brand Komono, worn by Lady Gaga and others, is getting a boost from avant-garde optics pioneer Theo‘s owners: they are taking over 40% of the shares.

Recovery

Above Komono, a trendy Antwerp brand of eyewear and watches, is a new holding company: Hirano. Three new shareholders are popping up there: brothers Mik, Jan and Toon Somers, together accounting for 40% of the capital, business newspaper De Tijd reports.

They are the owners of eyewear brand Theo, founded back in 1987 and a Belgian trendsetter in the optics industry. Theo designer Patrick Hoet was one of the first to experiment with 3D printing frames to create very light titanium custom-made glasses. Elton John, among others, already wore glasses from the brand.

Theo glasses are distributed in some 50 countries and accounted for a net profit of 3.1 million euros on sales of 16 million euros in 2021. For Komono, 2021 was an important recovery year, as the label was already struggling financially before the corona pandemic. After a sharp drop in sales and almost 4 million euros in losses in 2018, the label carried out a professionalisation, but it was not until 2021 that the company returned to profit.