Avant-Garde

"dimensional leap. He talks to the banks, finds the credit, and embarks on a transformational operation, as the analysts would call it. He buys 50% of Avant-Garde for 11 million dollars in a year when the company has a turnover of about 20 billion lire, which is about 14 million dollars at the current exchange rate. Numbers that show how risky the operation was. He flies to Long Island, on the outskirts of New York facing the ocean, to enter the American market through the front door, becoming a partner of one of the largest wholesalers in the world. The acquisition leads Luxottica to become the leader of the American market with a 7% share. Del Vecchio plays the American. That turning point is decisive, he explains. "I had the courage to go to America and make the big leap. From that moment on, we became number one.""

"He realizes that even in the United States he needs to control the entire business to be able to lead it as he sees fit. He takes another big step and in 1985 buys the remaining 50% of Avant-Garde."