The SILMO, which took place last weekend in Paris, attracted almost 35.000 visitors. Not bad when you take in account the heat in the city and at the fair and 5% more as last year. Foreign visitors are the majority but the amount of French opticians increased as well. None of the major Italian manufacturers exhibited but no one seems to miss them here in Paris. All in all the fair wasn’t very exciting. Vintage and retro still dominate the more interesting collections, we see more colour and all the rest is nothing new although Mykita continues to develop its interesting 3D printing technology which certainly opens new skies. Nevertheless there are more than enough beautiful frames and sunglasses and they remain to be the most important fashion accessories of today. Especially on the streets we saw many good sunglasses which proves the awareness and desire of the consumer. Now its time for the opticians to update their collections and make them more exciting and attractive. Not too many surprises as well at the SILMO d’Ors. Essilor went home with even two (one for its anti-fog lenses, the other one in the category instruments), Lindberg was awarded for the most innovative design, Silhouette once again won in the category sportglasses with adidas and ic!berlin got an award for the best sunglasses. All great products by great companies but we still think this competition needs a serious upgrade and a better jury which could probably inspire other companies and designers to compete and lift the competition to a higher and more contemporary level. Let’s not forget the parties we visited like the Diesel by Marcolin launch in a busy V.I.P.room or the cosy Alain Mikli Benelux party on Sunday. Last but not least we liked this edition because it was during Paris Fashion Week which meant we met all our fashion friends everywhere in the city. The world again proved to be very small and Paris was its capital for a few days. Next year SILMO from October 4 until 7. Just a few editions to go and we are back where we started; at the end of October! Do you prefer images instead of words? Look at all SILMO pictures at our Events page.
