The third edition of the Safilo Eyewear Product School opened in September 2016 as a structured three-year apprenticeship.

Unique in the global eyewear industry, the school blends the cutting-edge requirements of artisan mastery with an international business context.

Safilo founded the Eyewear Product School in 2015, confident in the power of its historic industry leadership and legacy of generations of eyewear masters. In its academic year of 2017/18, this third edition also marks the upcoming 140th anniversary of Safilo’s craftsmanship origins that date back to 1878.

The Product School is part of Safilo’s sustainability strategy Product-People-Planet. It reflects the Group’s corporate commitment to enduring eyewear mastery blending tradition and innovation, technicity and creativity, manuality and imagination, and the development of modern eyewear artisanship.

By entrusting new generations with its legacy, nurturing research, celebrating mastery and hand-making, and doing so in an international context, Safilo drives its very own contribution to meaningful skill building of new generations, and development of the eyewear industry, as a symbol of Italian excellence.

Five young talents were selected from the more than 130 applications received: they will join their colleagues from the previous editions and, inspired by the German apprenticeship model, will learn through practical on-the-job training, coaching, formal class tutorials, and explorations in the field, deepening all areas of production, from design to development, from prototyping, engineering to industrial production, from demand planning to distribution.

Learning will involve job rotation across Safilo’s worldwide manufacturing locations, design studios and commercial subsidiaries, in order to develop from the talent pipeline of Safilo’s managerial figures in Product Design & Creation. The apprenticeship is designed as a foundational preparation for international career development towards Product Director at Safilo Group.

Safilo’s heritage and technical know-how are rooted in Calalzo di Cadore, since 1878, and encompass a unique craftsmanship depth, which represents the true DNA and legacy of the company: hands-on experience, constantly enriched with new explorations, achieving ever-changing solutions and product developments, daring new combinations.

It is this holistic view of the eyewear industry that Safilo transfers to the apprentices of its Eyewear Product School, working alongside a qualified teaching staff, comprising company experts and managers as well as external professionals who share their experience and knowledge to, in turn, prompt experimentations that the new generations will create to take the industry to new levels forward.

For more information visit safiloproductschool.com