Established in 1983, the iconic De Rigo lifestyle house brand celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. It’s marking the occasion with the launch of four limited-edition products that celebrate the ‘Police’ legacy. They have also unveiled a new logo which has been created specifically to commemorate the historic milestone of four decades of courage, determination and an adventurous spirit. An eyewear brand turned into a bold lifestyle icon.
The brand began with the launch of an eyewear collection and quickly became a success. In 1997, a range of men’s and women’s fragrances made their way to the Police portfolio. Subsequently, the brand extended its offering to watches (2003), jewellery (2005), small leather goods (2011) and clothing in the more recent past.
We picked the iconic brand as the watch partner for the June 2023 digital cover shoot with India’s YouTube sensation Bhuvan Bam who enjoys an insane fan following for his quirky avatars on social media. The brand is characterised by its ever-evolving strong identity, sophisticated designs and iconic style. Police has been successfully interpreting the free and bold spirit of those who refuse to play by the rules, quite like what Bhuvan does with his on-screen personality.
Witness to a constantly changing male universe, the brand Police now stands for a more contemporary personality, where masculinity remains an almost ‘unexplored territory’, to be experienced and rebuilt following one’s own nature and identity. Audacity and discovery have now become the watchwords for the man sporting Police — a liberated and courageous individual, who always strives to be himself and needs the approval of no one, summing up Bhuvan’s personality quite well.
Code name: Police
Police has always been synonymous with risk-taking. Many stylistic leitmotifs have accompanied the brand’s image from the very beginning – first and foremost the colour blue. A triumph since the ’90s, when Police was the first to introduce blue mirrored lenses. A distinctive element, adopted later by all the Police accessory categories and even re-proposed in the very latest collections.
A truly transnational brand, Police is available in more than 100 countries, the core remains Europe and the key markets of Italy, France, Germany, Spain, the UK and Portugal. Outside Europe, the brand’s most important markets constitute Asia – Japan, followed by India, Korea, Indonesia, China and the Middle East. The US has also been showing steady growth.
Police’s leading men
There have been numerous advertising campaigns in the past featuring Hollywood stars like Bruce Willis, George Clooney and Antonio Banderas. The brand is deeply entrenched in the world of cinema with many collaborations on action films such as Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League, Men In Black: International, The Batman and, most recently, Bullet. Some of these collaborations have also inspired much-appreciated capsule collections.
The other pillar for Police has been the world of sport – from the partnership with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team to collaborations with David Beckham, Neymar Jr. and Lewis Hamilton, who have not only voiced the brand’s values, style and philosophy, they have often taken more active roles in designing items for the collection.
Four exclusive pieces for 40 years of Police
This year, Police launches a Limited-Edition Collection of four specifically-designed products – a new sunglasses style, two watches combined with a bracelet or wallet and a fragrance, all in limited numbers of just 1,983 pieces, in honour of the brand’s founding year.
The style of the collection is more iconic than ever and the products embody its audacity – a key brand value, today celebrated with the new ‘Audacity Wanted’ campaign. To render the four pieces even more unique, they feature both the new ‘Police 40’ logo – developed for the anniversary and designed by re-visiting the historic eagle – and the serial number engraved onto the products. Police’s success reflects De Rigo’s passion and commitment.
The new re-positioning project of the Police lifestyle brand stems from the desire to champion the current values associated with masculinity and open this up to new generations, accustomed to considering the male figure in a more liberal and less stereotyped way. Without, however, forgetting the ‘brand lovers’ who, since the 1980s, have recognised themselves in the brand’s campaigns, testimonials and products.
Summing up the journey over four decades, Michele Aracri, CEO of De Rigo, says, “Forty years ago, Police was born as a bit of a gamble. A passion and great enthusiasm, fuelled by a strong sense of commitment. The same that we have since taken forward and applied to all of our projects for the brand.”