REM’s Mike Hundert (l) and De Rigo Vision’s Massimo De Rigo.
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LONGARONE, Italy and SUN VALLEY, Calif.—With the news of De Rigo Vision’s acquisition of REM Eyewear, a move announced yesterday and reported by VMail, executives of both companies reiterated that the deal will mean an enhanced presence for De Rigo Group’s eyewear and sunwear brands in North America, and they clarified that REM’s business will continue to operate as usual from its Los Angeles area headquarters and soon will absorb the operations of De Rigo USA from its current Florida HQ.

De Rigo Vision, a part of the De Rigo Group, S.p.A., signed an agreement to purchase complete ownership of REM Eyewear. The new company will be known as De Rigo REM. “The De Rigo and REM families are coming together in this historic deal, creating the largest family-owned provider of eyewear and will continue to consider all of our customers, employees and stakeholders as family,” a statement said.

REM will maintain its current portfolio of brands (including Converse, Lucky Brand, Jones New York, John Varvatos and Jonathan Adler) and will take over the De Rigo brands currently in the U.S. market, including Chopard, Escada, Lanvin, Nina Ricci, CH by Carolina Herrera and Police, with plans to added more in the coming months.

De Rigo REM will continue to service all of REM’s existing customers with no changes to their contacts in sales or customer service and said that all current policies will remain the same. The effective date of the change will be June 13.

De Rigo REM will be overseen by REM’s existing executives, including Mike Hundert as CEO, Donna Gindy as COO, Steve Horowitz as president and Keith Kamalich as vice president. Nicolas Roseillier will continue as creative director of De Rigo REM. De Rigo said it has joined with REM for its expertise in the U.S. optical industry.

The companies also emphasized, “As such, we are maintaining all current positions at De Rigo REM, and if anything, we will need to hire additional staff.”