The pair of Aviator-style glasses made in Jura, worn for several days by the French president, who is suffering from a “minor eye problem” in his right eye, has put the Henry Jullien brand in the spotlight. Its parent company, Italian eyewear group iVision Tech, has seen its sales soar as a result.
For once, this is not a case of the “Taylor Swift effect” (or Swiftonomics) but rather the result of a certain Emmanuel Macron… Suffering from an eye problem for several days, the French president has been seen on several occasions wearing a pair of mirrored sunglasses indoors.
The model was also at the forefront of discussions at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where Donald Trump threatened European interests. That was all it took to send sales of Henry Jullien, the Jura-based eyewear brand, soaring, as did the valuation of its parent company, iVision Tech.
Benign eye problem
If Emmanuel Macron gave the impression of having dressed up as Tom Cruise straight out of Tony Scott’s testosterone-fueled Top Gun, released in 1986 (yes, 40 years ago this year), it was primarily because he appeared with a bloodshot eye during his traditional end-of-year televised New Year’s address.
He said he was suffering from a “benign eye problem,” with the Elysée Palace specifying that the redness was in fact caused by an irritated eye following a small subconjunctival hemorrhage.
Spectacular spotlight
Retailing at €659 ($770), the Pacific S01 gold-lined model from the Jura-based company Henry Jullien, worn by the French president, was the talk of the town, whether in the press, among politicians, or among curious members of the public. Even Donald Trump couldn’t resist mentioning it in his speech on Wednesday, January 21, at the World Economic Forum in Davos: “Emmanuel Macron, I watched him yesterday with his magnificent sunglasses. What happened to him? I saw him playing the tough guy,” he quipped.
For political commentators, wearing his blue-tinted sunglasses gave the French head of state a more martial appearance and greater strength of conviction, including when he stated that he “prefers respect for the rules to brute force.” Some media outlets offered their interpretation of Donald Trump’s about-face: did the US president get cold feet and decide not to seize Greenland by force or threaten French wines and spirits with a 200% surtax?
For its part, the Henry Jullien eyewear company, founded in 1921, has seen a significant increase in sales and traffic on its e-commerce site, to the point that the Jura-based company was forced to temporarily take it offline for maintenance.
Since 2023, Henry Jullien has been owned by the Italian group iVision Tech, listed on the Milan Stock Exchange. The Italian company’s market capitalization has thus gained €3.5 million ($4.1 million). Its shares listed in Milan rose by nearly 6% on Wednesday.
When the 1986 film Top Gun was released, the Ray Ban brand (now owned by EssilorLuxottica) also benefited from a boost. Its sales of Aviator sunglasses soared by 40% in the seven months following the film’s release.
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Featured photo: Henry Jullien
