In the week leading up to ODMA’s 2025 fair, Marchon threw open its doors for its first ever ‘First View 2025’, giving customers the opportunity to see its full October 2025 eyewear release.
Only open to Marchon’s larger Australian customers, this gave the opportunity to not only view what’s coming in October and select which styles they’d like to stock, but also to see which styles Marchon hadn’t selected, and say if they concurred, said Brad Saffin, Marchon Australia’s managing director. In nearly all cases, Marchon’s team had made the right choices, but it’s been an interesting process, he said. “It’s reinforced what we’re doing, but there were some rare exceptions, like one style or a couple of colours. So, it’s been good.”
Covering several of Marchon’s key brands, including Calvin Klein, Columbia, Ferragamo, Flexon, Lacoste, Longchamp and Nike, each brand selection was set out in different areas in Marchon’s offices in Sydney. Frame styles selected were set to one side next to those not selected (marked with a white dot), making for an interesting comparison. “It’s important to check that we are doing the right thing,” said Saffin. But it also gave senior staff and salespeople an opportunity to sit down with some of the company’s bigger clients to assess their existing assortments and discuss which styles may be slowing down or doing particularly well, and suggest alternatives, he said. “So it aids in inventory management.”
Overall, the reaction from customers has been “terrific”, said Saffin, who’s now planning on repeating the exercise annually and inviting other customers, including from New Zealand, to attend. “This is about us putting our best foot forward to work with our customers to make sure they have got the best product tailored to their practices.”
