#394 An Orphan Who Built An Empire: Leonardo Del Vecchio and The Founding of Luxottica

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Jul 13, 2025

Discover the remarkable story of an orphan who built an eyewear empire. From poverty to success, he transformed glasses from a mere necessity to a fashion statement. Learn how strategic partnerships and relentless hard work fueled his rise. He meticulously controlled every aspect of his business, completing bold acquisitions along the way. His innovative mindset and obsession with excellence shaped a global giant in the eyewear industry, making him a titan of entrepreneurship.

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Orphan Origins of Del Vecchio

Leonardo Del Vecchio was an orphan raised in an institution after his father died before he was born.
This harsh childhood shaped his obsession with control and excellence in business.

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Total Control Strategy

Del Vecchio's core strategy was to do everything himself, controlling the entire eyewear process.
This unprecedented vertical integration surprised and dominated the fragmented eyewear industry.

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Hostile Takeover of US Shoe

Del Vecchio executed a hostile takeover of US Shoe, despite its larger size and board resistance.
He broke it up immediately, keeping only LensCrafters filled with Luxottica frames.

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Your dad dies before you’re born. Your mom can’t afford to take care of you. You grow up without a family and in an institution. You learn a trade and start working full time at the age of 14. You work all day and go to school at night. You’re precise, meticulous, restless, and work circles around everyone. You’re promoted to run the factory at 18 but the thought of working for anyone else terrifies you. For your entire life you’ll be obsessed with control. You’ll do whatever it takes to escape the harshness of poverty and the pangs of hunger. You organize your life around a simple principle: "I want to be the best at everything I do.” You start your own workshop, create the best product, and your biggest customer wants to become your partner. They underestimate you and abuse you. You destroy them. You take all of their customers. You’re not satisfied with being a subcontractor. You want everything. You make your own glasses, you buy your distributor, you list your company on the New York Stock Exchange, you complete hostile takeovers of much larger companies, you buy entire retail chains, and control everything about your product: from the raw materials to the relationship with the customer. Your competitors call you the hawk because you circle, wait, and then strike. You work 20 hours a day and fuse yourself with the factory. You get married four times, to three different women, and have six kids. You don’t look back, you don’t rest on your laurels, and you don’t go to sleep on wins. You make something great, then you do it again. Your biggest deal comes 60 years into your career. The only thing that could stop you was death.

You are Leonardo Del Vecchio.

This episode is what I learned from reading Leonardo Del Vecchio by Thomas Ebhardt and The Spectacle of Big Lens: How One Giant Company Will Dominate How the World Sees by Sam Knight.

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