SILMO 2026 — What Really Defines an Independent Optician?

Alessandra Salimbene's SILMO Talk on the European independent optician. Saturday, September 26, 2–3 PM, Paris Nord Villepinte.

This year Alessandra Salimbene takes the SILMO stage with a SILMO Talk dedicated to a simple question that the industry almost always answers wrong: who is, truly, an independent optician?

The thesis

Usually we define independents by subtraction: the one who isn't a chain, who doesn't have the budgets and purchasing power of the big groups. It's a definition made of lacks, and that's exactly where half the problems of those working independently come from. Because if you think of yourself starting from what you don't have, you play the whole game on the terrain of size, where no independent can win.

The Talk flips the perspective. An independent optician is not defined by their size, but by two things that no chain can ever truly have: the freedom to choose and the ability to be recognized. You don't need to be big to matter, you need to have character.

A European perspective

The second thread of the talk is geographic and cultural, not political. Eyewear has deeply European origins, and thinking of independent optics on a continental scale, rather than one country at a time, is not an abstraction: it's a return to the roots of the profession, and today also a concrete competitive advantage in an increasingly global market.

What I'm presenting from the stage

During the Talk I show the concrete steps, built on a marketing program, to make an independent optical shop recognizable and competitive. And I present a preview of a project I've been working on for months, designed for European independent opticians: a first for the industry. The details will be revealed there, in the room.

Where and when

SILMO Paris 2026 · Paris Nord Villepinte · September 25–28
SILMO Talk: What Really Defines an Independent Optician?
When: Saturday, September 26, 2–3 PM

Right after the talk, Alessandra will be in the SILMO press office, available to anyone who wants to continue the conversation: Italian opticians and beyond.

See you in Paris. Follow the story of the event on Optics & Love's Instagram and LinkedIn, and on the international channels @opticsandlove.