Silhouette International Schmied AG is an eyewear company headquartered in

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. Since 2017, the company is a full-service provider for both frames and lenses. Since 2008, the company has been a state-awarded training company.

History

The Silhouette Group was founded in 1964 by Anneliese and Arnold Schmied.Silhouette International
Presse News vom 7. Juli 2010
(

MS Word Microsoft Word is a word processor, word processing software developed by Microsoft. It was first released on October 25, 1983, under the name ''Multi-Tool Word'' for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other pla ...

; 231 kB) In 1991, Silhouette began producing sports eyewear under the licensed brand Adidas. In the 1990s, importers in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

were converted into subsidiaries of the company. In 2000, the company expanded to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

. In addition, founder Arnold Schmied became part of the board of directors, and his sons Klaus and Arnold Schmied and Tassilo Gruber succeeded him as company managers. During the same time, Silhouette International A. Schmied GmbH. & Co. KG and former holding company Schmied Beteiligungs AG merged to form Silhouette International Schmied AG. In 2002, the company expanded to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

and in the Asian region.Karl Leitner: "Silhouette will über asiatischen Markt kräftig weiterwachsen", WirtschaftsBlatt, 30 March 2002 (in German) As of 2007, the company's top management consisted only of brothers Klaus and Arnold Schmied. In 2008, expansion into

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...

and the

Near NEAR or Near may refer to: People * Thomas J. Near, US evolutionary ichthyologist * Near, a developer who created the higan emulator Science, mathematics, technology, biology, and medicine * National Emergency Alarm Repeater (NEAR), a form ...

and

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

began. In 2009, Silhouette's licensing agreement with Swarovski, which had existed since 1996, ended. In 2013, Arnold and Klaus Schmied retired from the operational business to the management board, and their board mandates were taken over by Thomas Windischbauer and Daniel Rogger. In 2014, a new subsidiary was founded in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

. In 2016, Silhouette's brand neubau eyewear was founded. Since the beginning of 2021, neubau eyewear is an independent company. Since 2017, the company has been a full-range supplier of both lenses and frames.Magdalena Vachova: "Silhouette blickt jetzt durch", in:

Kurier ''Kurier'' is a German-language daily newspaper based in Vienna, Austria. History and profile ''Kurier'' was founded as ''Wiener Kurier'' by the United States Forces in Austria (USFA) in 1945, during the Allied occupation after World War II. ...

(Austria), 9 February 2017 (in German) Since 1 November 2019, Reinhard Mahr and Arnold Schmied's son Michael Schmied have been managing the family business alongside Thomas Windischbauer. At the end of 2019, the Silhouette Group ended its 25-year licensing agreement with Adidas and launched its own sports eyewear brand, evil eye.

Company Structure

Silhouette is a third-generation family company under the Schmied name. The annual turnover in 2020 was € 123 million. The company employs 1,380 people, including 800 in Linz. Exports account for 95 percent of sales, and the eyewear is available in more than 100 countries. The company has offices in Belgium, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, China, Germany, France, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, Hong Kong, Italy,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

, Sweden, Denmark,

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, Austria,

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, Switzerland, the United States, as well as a regional office in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

and a second production site in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

Products

Silhouette manufactures and distributes rimless eyewear, full rim eyewear and sunglasses as well as lenses. For many years, Silhouette was a licensed manufacturer of sports eyewear for Adidas and Swarowski. Silhouette currently produces eyewear under three brands: Silhouette, neubau eyewear and evil eye. Since 2000, the company's screwless and hingeless Titan Minimal Art eyewear has been certified for space travel and has been used on more than 35 space missions to date.Simone Boehringer: "Mit Nasa-tauglichen Brillen zu neuem Ruhm", Süddeutsche Zeitung, 9 September 2002

Materials

Silhouette uses high-tech

titanium Titanium is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resista ...

and patented plastic SPX to manufacture its eyewear. In 1983, Silhouette began producing eyewear from SPX using injection molding technology. Since 2020, neubau eyewear has been using bio-based material in

3D printing 3D printing or additive manufacturing is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer co ...

technology.

Sustainability

As a Climate Alliance company, Silhouette is a member of Climate Alliance Austria.

History

Company Structure

Products

Materials

Sustainability

References

External links