Eyewear trends: Ic! berlin focuses on silent luxury and minimalist design

Premium eyewear brand Ic! berlin was founded in 1996 by entrepreneur and artist Ralph Anderl together with two design students. They had developed a new pair of glasses made of an unconventional material, cold-rolled stainless steel, and the invention of a revolutionary mechanism, the screwless hinge system, still the hallmark of every Ic! berlin pair today. When no manufacturer would produce the new design, the founders simply bought machines and started production in Berlin where it takes place until the present day. While the two designers founded Berlin eyewear label Mykita, Anderl continued to run Ic! berlin for the first 20 years. At the end of 2023, the brand was acquired by Italian eyewear manufacturer and distributor Marcolin.

FashionUnited spoke with Davide Lunghi, the new general manager of Ic! berlin, about the planned rebranding, which incorporates unconventional thinking, product innovation and a strong brand identity. He also revealed what to expect for the upcoming 30th anniversary, how and where Ic! berlin glasses are manufactured, what still distinguishes the brand today, and why it is so popular not only in Europe and the United States but also in Japan.

You have been at Ic! berlin since October last year. Could you talk a bit about how the journey has been so far?

It's a brand which is full of power, with a strong DNA, which is the inventor of the screwless and the high-end stainless steel eyewear. And this is something that we decided to insist on in our brand vision and in our brand positioning, to make sure that we as a team bring the brand where it deserves to be. Ic! berlin is the hottest brand that you will observe in the coming five years.

Could you describe what makes the brand special in terms of materials and how the glasses are produced?

As I said, Ic! berlin is the inventor of the screwless iron stainless steel glasses. We believe in continuous material innovation. The first perk is connected with our collection, which is a classic one, where we continuously search for new tools and new ways to improve the wearability of the product. We use a very lightweight stainless steel, which is one of the best in the industry, that we use for the Classic collection and the Silk collection, which is the lightest one.

One of the most recent material innovations is a patent that we developed for a carbon fiber product, which is a newly launched collection in 2023, which is a flexible one made from highly flexible carbon fiber. These are the products we focus on when it comes to sport and outdoor performance.

It is something that we as a brand and as a company are very proud of, because we have the in-house technology. And when you see the bronze, the gold, the black, all these colours are very sustainable and durable, because through our very own technique, PVD or physical vapor deposition, you can really keep them for eternity. And this is a technological innovation that is rarely known in the industry.

What can you say about eyewear trends at the moment? Is Ic! berlin a brand that is following trends?

Among the trends that we see, that Ic! berlin is partially following, is less is more. And to have a sustainable, durable product that is recognisable. You know an Ic!berlin product straight away because of its design, the material, the wearability, the ultra-lightness. That is why we don't have any logo visible on the product.

The second trend for business products is silent luxury. The other trend that we see, which is where we are not yet investing in, is eyewear seen as a medical product and as a smart product. At the moment, we are focusing primarily on traditional glasses, because we are still in a phase where we are intensively focusing on rebranding.

What does the rebranding entail?

We started focusing on the pillars of the brand: Redefining unconventional thinking and communication with a new campaign that we will launch next year, our 30th anniversary year. We are focusing on really capturing our target customer, which is the technicalist. It's a person for whom objects have a real meaning in life and are part of their life.

What is planned for the 30-year anniversary, can you divulge anything at this point?

We like teasing and we like desirability. There will be a 360 degree orchestration, which is spreading news from Germany to our major areas. Ic! berlin is strong in Europe but very strong in Germany. Also in Asia and the US. So it will be about spreading the news everywhere in the world and in the countries where we are already very relevant and where we want to invest in. That is something we are taking into consideration for the next 30 years.

Ic! berlin has won the Japan Eyewear Award not only once, but ten times. Could you elaborate on that a little bit? What is the attraction for Japanese customers?

The attraction of the brand in Japan is really the design component of the product, the fact that it is designed in-house. The second point is the ultralight wearability, which is very much appreciated. The stainless steel is the third attraction in Japan. We have a very thin frame, something that is very much desired in the Japanese market. Another success is that we worked with our teams locally to develop some special products for the Japanese market, sometimes very specific products with some tailor-made solutions or limited editions. There is also a strong eyewear culture in Japan.

Talking about production, each pair of glasses is made in Berlin. What all does the process process entail?

Ninety-five percent of the material is coming from Germany, the rest is for some product lines where we need to buy from other European countries. Once we receive the raw material, we cut it in-house and then colour with PVD or sometimes with lacquer, partially in-house and partially outsourced, depending on the colour that we want to use. But even ‘outsourced' means only 30 kilometers away.

Once the colouring is done, we do the assembly, quality control, finishing and then everything is finalized in-house. These are the major steps of which 80 percent is made in Germany, it is a ‘Made in Germany’ product. We employ about 100 people and want to increase the number of steps done in-house further, starting from next year.

Speaking of people, is it easy to attract talent for this kind of job?

Yes, it is becoming easier and easier, to be honest. We are well known and we are lucky because we are based in Berlin where you have four million plus inhabitants, considering the Brandenburg region. There are only a few of these brands of excellence in Berlin, you have some piano builders, you have Mykita, you have Liebeskind and Ic! berlin. It is a medium-sized company, which is a plus, and with this kind of product, people join.

And of course, with the arrival of Marcolin, which is a global player, one of the top players in the eyewear industry with brands like Tom Ford, Christian Louboutin, Max Mara, BMW, Adidas, Guess, Gant and more. This increases the desirability for an employee to join the brand.

Would you say that this allows for changes to be made easier, for example in terms of design or marketing?

We live in a changing world and for us, it is quite good to have this flexibility because we can test and try out things in terms of design and product. I wouldn't speak about changes, I would speak about developments more, because we are lucky to be anchored in a product that is very well known and very well appreciated, so we want to keep developing it. And there are quite a few tests and trials for new designs, for new styles, for new sizes and so on. This is quite good and we are lucky to be in a very agile organization that is allowing us to be very fast in this changing world.

As an industry, the eyewear industry is moving in quite an interesting direction. When it comes to distribution and footprint, you see that the big players are becoming even bigger and consolidating their position. In terms of the competitive environment of Ic! berlin and niche brands like us, which are more designer brands, there has been a lot of merger and acquisition action in the past, which is consolidating the market a little bit as well.