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The busy Milan event this month saw new momentum in eyewear innovation and design driven change in the industry with regard to environmental issues – independent eyewear brands exhibited bold, creative concepts, new sustainable ideas and a considered approach in many cases to quality design and traditional craftsmanship 

Mido 2025 has been billed as an outstanding success: in the words of Lorraine Berton, President of MIDO and ANFAO, an edition that was all about “business, networking and fresh ideas”. For those seeking inspiration, innovation and design ideas, the event served up a huge opportunity to review new directions, material developments, sustainable progress and style ideas in many different segments of eyewear design, including sport, fashion and luxury.

Independent brands and creative designers offered an extraordinary breadth and quality of design, with  a large number of these companies and new emerging labels exhibiting in the Academy and Start-up area this year. Above: Nina Mûr’s outstanding new Pearl Eyes collection features sinuous shapes and organic lines. The frames incorporate a unique element – authentic certified river pearls are embedded in each design

Pearl Eyes by Nina Mûr offers an uninhibited artistic expression, fusing playfulness with elegance and exploring new possibilities through striking natural materials, always in line with the sustainable ethos of the brand. www.ninamur.com

Colour stories at Mido were intriguing, with many new colour directions emerging in different ways depending on the materials and textures explored. Colours with obvious links to fashion and the Pantone colour of the year for 2025 – Mocha Mousse were prevalent, as were bright vibrant tones offering individuality and exciting expression.  All the classic eyewear colours are also well represented this year with tortoise tones, Havana, brown hues and lots of new greens proposed across the board. We noted  a very attractive terracotta tone appearing frequently, as well as other natural hues inspired by nature, natural textures, minerals and marble. There were multiple examples of playful work on surfaces, texture and contrasts between shiny and matt finishes, once again.

The frame pictured above is a new round style in the Mosaico series at Italian brand, Lamarca Eyewear. The colour combination in Mazzucchelli acetate plays with classic tones and trendy crystal grey, www.lamarcaeyewear.com

Ørgreen Optics showed a bold sunglasses collection, offering a revitalised approach to colour and lens innovation. Known for its minimalist design and technical precision, Ørgreen is now setting its sights on redefining how its sun collection blends style and functionality. The new palette features a trio of concepts: Essentials, timeless classics such as matte black and deep brown; Accented Colours, versatile yet muted tones like soft blue; Seasonal Highlights, trend-driven hues, including sage green and vibrant pink. www.orgreenoptics.com

Featured in the interesting Start-Up area of the Mido show this year, the independent label Glacier Optics showed an inspiring collection of sports frames. First launched in 2020, the frames have been designed specifically for mountain activities and developed for use in the Alps. All the parts and accessories have been carefully sourced locally in Switzerland, France and Italy and the frames have a distinctive design and quality of style thanks to the co-founders’ decade-long experience working in the outdoors industry and a particular passion for and expertise in snowboarding and skiing. Find out more about the brand at www.glacieroptics.com

Austrian eyewear innovator ROLF took away another CSE award at the Mido event, winning the European category for their 3D printed sustainable eyewear collection. ROLF continues to offer a wide selection of frames in natural materials including wood and stone, produced to the highest levels of craftsmanship and design quality. www.rolf-spectacles.com

Mido saw collection presentations by many new and emerging companies with a particular specialisation and design direction. They included Hibang from Taiwan, a small label which has already won an iF Design award for their screw-free “modular” style  frames, made with parts that can easily be swapped and replaced without tools, extending lifespan and promoting sustainable design. All the frames are produced in a sustainable material created from discarded fishing nets.

According to the organisers of MIDO 2025, this year the three-day international event welcomed over 42,000 attendees, from 168 countries, and 1200 exhibitors (of which about 930 were international) in 7 pavilions and 8 exhibitions areas at Fiera Milano Rho.

Eyestylist was privileged to return to the Mido event this month and learn about important developments in design, technology and sustainable eyewear. This article is a first commentary on what we have reviewed at Mido. Further highlights on the collections in 2025 will be featured on Eyestylist.com in the coming weeks and months. Mido 2026 takes place from 31st January to 2nd February 2026 at Fiera Milano Rho. Find out more about Mido at www.mido.com

The event in Milan this weekend promises 1200 exhibitors from 50+ countries; among them, international independent brands and creative designers will show their latest designs and innovations in a showcase that promises award-winning design, quality and craftsmanship, innovative future-facing collections and the latest trends in eyewear materials….

MIDO 2025 – taking place from Saturday 8th February to Monday 10th February – is billed to be a particularly impressive show in 2025, and THE  international fair of the season in which to gain early access to emerging trends in eyewear. This year the event in Milan has unveiled a series of layout innovations. Pavilion 6 at Fiera Milano (Rho) will host the Academy this year, a growing start-up area, and a new “area” or square inspired by Italian village piazzas with a “green” theme. Pavilions 2 and 4 have been “reorganized” say the fair organisers, with the Design area offering space for more exhibitors, larger stands, and new entries.

The Academy, which MIDO calls “a special nonconformist location for all those who make originality their motto” will remain the destination for some of the most outstanding creative labels and designers, including many of our recommended brands and favourite designers, with a huge representation of design work from around the world, including Japan, Italy, Canada and the USA. In this feature, we preview for the first time a few of the releases that you can expect to find at the fair – releasing for the first time. Above: The German 3D printed innovators, You Mawo will show new styles across their collection and a brand new creative piece in the YOUniverse series; they are exhibiting in the Academy. Pictured: a new frame called Tate in their BOLD collection: the style has a striking cat-eye-inspired silhouette and confident lines. Designed to exude power and elegance. www.youmawo.com

In a sneak peek for MIDO from the l.a. eyeworks collection, Kite Tail expresses a flight of fancy, playing with the rigidity of the titanium material with extraordinary finesse to create something wavy and organic! The frame is a limited edition, and a gorgeous complement to the new collection which we are told will be primarily acetate. www.laeyeworks.com

For 2025, the Italian artisan brand, REWIND is expanding its Swarovski crystal line with geometric patterns and light effects that enhance elegance and refinement, with crystals precisely placed to add a touch of brilliance without being excessive. “We really believe that jewellery decoration is coming back,” co-founders Patrizia Puliti and Paolo Corradossi told Eyestylist. “That’s why we are launching new decorations on some of our most iconic models.” www.rewindeyewear.com

Diffuser Tokyo, the Japanese accessories specialists, will also be showing in the Academy. This brand has a huge selection of cool and beautifully made items for carrying and storing frames – all of which feature high quality materials. Among the new things to see is the Triangular Prism Bag in leather (pictured above). This bag has a compact design suitable for daily use that can be worn around the body with a strap. It can hold three different items such as eyewear and a mobile phone. www.diffuser-tokyo.com

The Italian company LOOK will be showing a range of sports-inspired designs, in the context of athleisure. These include TRI-X, a concept frame composed of only three pieces. The NIL front is joined to 3-D printed temples that feature an innovative hook system that connects the temple to the front and eclipses traditional hinges. The company will also show a re-edition of a sport utility frame which has been reproduced in cutting-edge materials. For more information about the ranges at LOOK, visit www.lookocchiali.it

J.F. REY have announced an extensive sunglasses collection for men and women, inspired by the enduring qualities of icons. The Bridget sunglasses stand out for their bold proportions and interesting triple layering of the acetate material….giving striking looks to the structure and the colours of the frame. Find out more at www.jfrey.fr

Sea2see will show their new Breeze Ultralight collection at MIDO 2025, produced in 100% recovered marine plastic, with properties of exceptional lightness, durability and extensive colour variation –and – for the temples, 90% recycled stainless steel. By exploring minimal lines and paring back the fronts of the frames to create refined yet easy-to-wear shapes, this line offers a new opportunity for all-day comfort and ease-of-wear, with an aesthetic that is both contemporary and minimal and suitable for everyone. www.sea2see.org

Komono has announce they will show a new line featuring optical and sunglass styles in Acetate Renew called Zero Gravity, inspired by the water’s shape-shifting movements in space. The designs distort and flow with organic elegance. Each style is named after water in different languages – Yoruba, Turkish, Japanese and Maltese. www.komono.com

MIDO takes place from 8th February to 10th February at Fiera Milano (Milan, Italy). For more information and to register visit www.mido.com – For Eyestylist.com updates about new releases among the independent brands at MIDO, follow us here and on Instagram at @eyestylistmagazine.

This year’s colour palette is full of standout hues: Pantone’s Mocha Mousse, the colour of the year, is just one of many soft and flattering hues that are trending; bright colours have also been of great interest in 2024, with saturated bright tones, colour combinations and translucent ‘crystal’ colours doing particularly well. Here we identify six colour stories present in the collections that are important at the start of 2025….

1. Blue tones inspired by nature 

Many of the blue tones featured in contemporary eyewear are informed by nature and variations of natural blue tones in the sea or the sky. The new collections arriving this month feature tones of dark blue, Mediterranean blue, powder blue, lapis and Cerulean blue. Above: the colour blue has been successful in 2024; for the new season, SALT. Optics is featuring the attractive Matte Indigo tone across its collection, pictured here, SALT. Optics’ model Turner in matte indigo with a brown tinted sun lens  – www.saltoptics.com

Model ‘Skips the queue’ from Suzy Glam has a fine organic shape and comes in the ‘bluebird matte’ colourway pictured, lightly patterned with an effect that looks like it has been painted delicately with a brush, with blue tones inspired by natural bluebird feathers. For more inspiration, visit www.suzyglam.com

2. Warm brown hues and the light ‘Mocha Mousse’, Pantone’s Colour of the Year

Brown has been a highlight of the eyewear collections in Autumn/Winter 2024, and Pantone’s soft and mellow Mocha Mousse is billed to “nurture us with with its suggestion of the delectable qualities of chocolate and coffee.”

Model JF 1563 from J.F. Rey is a a geometric optical shape for women. The colourway above fuses several brown tones including a hue similar to Mocha Mousse for the frame front.

For the model JF1571, the J.F. Rey design team has created a colour mix featuring a dark brown, a light translucent brown close to Mocha Mousse with patterned acetate temples featuring flecks of light powder blue. Mocha Mousse is a soft and easy-to-wear colour for the face, and is particularly attractive when paired with other colours. For more details: www.jfrey.fr

3. Nature’s greens and aqua tones

Over the last few years, green has had a much more important role to play in eyewear. Some of the most artistic frames proposed in recent collections translate vibrant and muted natural green colours in acetate patterns. Greens that have been particularly sought after include olive, emerald, teal and mint.

The green version of model Sacha by henau eyewear plays with a spectacular mix of natural green hues with a vibrant fresh infusion on the front and single tone natural green temples to match. Find out more at www.henau-eyewear.com

The latest collection from OGI Eyewear features intriguing colours across the line for men and women. The Wayzata style is available in this Aqua Turquoise Tortoise. The frame also features pops of colour at the brow and the end pieces of the front, an original placement of colour that is achieved with particular expertise during  the making of the frame. www.ogieyewear.com

4. Tortoise variations

Tortoise-toned acetate remains a staple choice for many eyewear enthusiasts. Designers are incorporating many different sophisticated interpretations of this classic colourway, ensuring that its appeal remains contemporary and fresh. Particularly attractive are the tortoise patterns featuring flecks of other tones, coloured tortoise tones which feature a wash of another colour such as red or blue to create variety and combinations of tortoise-coloured acetates with other more saturated tones.

Model Rubis from Lafont Paris is an example of a combination where striking tortoise patterned acetate has been paired with a deep dark tone of black. www.lafont.com

The men’s model Bastian by Spanish label Jisco Eyewear is available in a rich tortoise pattern with a touch of blue that runs through the acetate material. See more colour ways at www.jiscoeyewear.com 

5. Light-toned neutrals and mineral-inspired hues 

Tones inspired by natural pigments or spices like cinnabar, umber, turmeric and cinnamon offer elegant and flattering colour ideas in eyewear. These tones have an enduring presence thanks to their versatility and beauty when explored with different intensities and effects of transparency or brightness.

The new square model Rose by Lafont Paris is available in this acetate combination, where a translucent brown not dissimilar to a burnt sienna is paired with a light smokey crystal temple tone. For more innovative colour combinations on this theme visit www.lafont.com

MYKITA has several examples of this colour palette. The Acetate Rings frame Halvar features in a shiny graphite / taupe /clear combo – a sophisticated mix of natural tones which complement the pure construction of the sleek stainless steel + acetate. www.mykita.com

6. Purple and lilac

In the women’s collection purple tones are well represented, from deep and mysterious shades of indigo and aubergine to bright pops of lavender, fuchsia and amethyst.

The thick-framed model Looper by Italian eyewear brand {rewind} comes in an original striated acetate pattern in an eye-catching Marsala purple infused tortoise. See more of {rewind}’s original acetate colour proposals at www.rewindeyewear.com

Suitto Eyewear’s quirky round model Vlaai comes in this fresh lilac crystal tone for 2025. The colour appears throughout this collection from Barcelona. “The subtle transparency permits the light to reflect and play with the lines of the design, creating an elegant and sophisticated look…” www.suittoeyewear.com

This feature was written by Clodagh Norton, www.eyestylist.com. All rights reserved.