PADUA, Italy and MOSCOW—Safilo Group announced the opening of Belarus and Kazakhstan as part of its CIS hub led out of Russia, the company said.

According to Safilo Group, “these openings support the expansion of Safilo’s global commercial network, one of the pillars of its 2020 strategic plan. They take the network to 40 directly served countries across the world and add to its high growth CEE region.”

Safilo Group will now be able to partner locally with optical retailers, offering its portfolio of brands spanning five consumer segments also in Belarus and Kazakhstan. These include the highest end Atelier with Elie Saab; Fashion Luxury with Dior, Fendi, Jimmy Choo, Givenchy, Céline, as well as BOSS, Max Mara, and Pierre Cardin; Lifestyle with Carrera, Marc Jacobs, Juicy Couture, Fossil, and Kate Spade; the fast-growing Mass Cool segment with Polaroid and havaianas.

“With this announcement, we are making our high quality eyewear and powerful brands now directly available also in Belarus and Kazakhstan,” said Luisa Delgado, CEO of Safilo Group. “We are committed to building partnerships of trust with the local optical retailers, also here based on transparent commercial terms that expand our partners’ choice of brands and support their business growth with in-store communication and good customer service. The two markets are of particular interest in the context of our Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) high growth region, where we want to further accelerate our growth through distribution expansion and local brand building.”

The CEE region has shown excellent results in 2016 and in the first semester of 2017. It stretches across CIS, Central Europe, and Turkey, where Safilo opened its own subsidiary in 2015, the company stated.