David Bearpark, Alessandra Girardi, Kellie Bearpark and Giovanni Vitaloni at Vanni’s HQ in Turin

I had the pleasure of visiting one of my key suppliers, Italian frames designer and manufacturer Vanni at their headquarters in Turin earlier this year. The company is proudly 100% Italian owned, with everything from its raw materials to its finished product sourced and made in Italy.

Like Kiwis buying New Zealand-made, many Italians choose to buy Italian-made goods wherever possible. But Vanni is more than just a quality Italian company, it has achieved the impressive, and regulated, Società Benefit status for its commitment to society, nature and ‘the common good’. It prides itself on its commitment to both environmental and societal sustainability, which is something we’re very proud to support and was recognised with this year’s Silmo d’Or Award for corporate social responsibility (CSR). Global warming is real and everything we can do to change our ways for the better, we should. 

While at Vanni, my wife Kellie and I were hosted by co-founders Alessandra Girardi and Giovanni Vitaloni, the husband-and-wife team who are Vanni’s head designer and CEO, respectively. Giovanni openly admitted they could make more money if Vanni’s eyewear was made outside of Italy but for environmental and quality-control reasons they choose not to.

It was a privilege to get such a close insight into Vanni’s design and manufacturing process. I also saw a model front-of-house practice, where the eyewear was laid out in such a stylish way, the frames were the hero – there was no clutter, with each frame presented in an eye-catching way to best attract consumers.

The whole Vanni team were also genuinely interested to learn more about the New Zealand market and the challenges independent optometry faces here. They believe, as we do, that people are looking as much at how the eyewear they choose makes them feel, with its environmental and societal impact being an important part of this, as well its value for money. Like Vanni, we agree that business growth is not about just selling frames, but about working with and understanding our customers and the issues they face, and what we learnt at Vanni can only help us better achieve this.

David Bearpark is founder and co-director (with his son Jon) of Little Peach, a proudly New Zealand-owned and -operated family company in Christchurch, dedicated to sourcing unique, quality eyewear from across the world.