KARL HAD IT FIRST: Danish brand Shamballa Jewels is making its entry into eyewear in collaboration with Larry Sands, the eyewear guru behind Chrome Hearts.
The line had hardly hit the Parisian concept store Colette in Paris when Karl Lagerfeld bought a pair of shades and wore them on Tuesday at the Chanel couture show.
The line consists of 15 models with prices ranging from 900 to 24,000 euros, or $990 to $26,465 at current exchange, the latter for the 24-karat gold model with two pavé beads and sapphires.
“The eyewear idea came when we met Larry Sands [the distributor of Shamballa’s jewelry Stateside since 2013.] Then when we got into the analysis, we saw the growth potential of the [eyewear] category,” Shamballa chief operation officer Peter Normann explained to WWD.
While it’s giving the license for eyewear out to Sands’ Malibu, Calif.-based SL Luxury Group, Normann said Shamballa Jewels plans to remain focused on its core jewelry business. “Hopefully it will be a nice license income. We hope eyewear will allow us to increase awareness to the brand,” Normann said.
In addition to Colette, the line is currently available at V.A.U.L.T Miami and Shamballa Jewels’ flagship store in Copenhagen. “It will have a much wider distribution than our jewelry collection, adding the channel of optical stores,” Normann noted.
A second collection is in the works, set to launch this fall.
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