Police

Police is an Italian brand of fashion accessories founded in 1983 by the De Rigo brothers, Ennio and Walter, as the first proprietary label of their eyewear company Charme Lunettes [9]. Beginning as a sunglasses maker, it grew into a broader lifestyle brand and today operates as a business unit of the De Rigo group [9], based in Longarone in the province of Belluno. Its collections are distributed in more than 100 countries.

For the beauty market, Police is known chiefly for its fragrances, a line launched in 1997 and produced under license by the Venice perfume house Mavive S.p.A. The eyewear and accessories business remains Police's primary identity, while perfume represents one branch of a wider portfolio that also spans watches, jewellery, leather goods and clothing.

The brand emerged from Charme Lunettes, a small firm that De Rigo had built making sunglasses for third parties before creating a label of its own. According to the parent company, "POLICE was born in Italy in 1983 from an intuition dreamt up by De Rigo, when people are looking for style, boldness and character" [2]. The name was chosen to evoke an American "on the road" sensibility and the urban energy of New York, a framing repeated in later brand-story coverage.

Police was one of two labels De Rigo launched in 1983, the same year the company also acquired the older Italian eyewear brand Lozza [4]. An eagle, described by the company as a symbol of freedom, became the recurring emblem of the brand and has been reinterpreted across its history.

Police built its early reputation on eyewear, including blue mirrored lenses introduced in the 1990s. From the late 1990s it began extending its name across product categories, a shift the brand and Wikipedia both date to 1997 with the launch of its first perfume range for men and women [9][2]. De Rigo's own group-history page places the transition slightly later, stating that Police "became a lifestyle brand" in 1998 [4]; the 1997 date reflects the perfume line's launch and is corroborated by two sources.

Subsequent extensions followed at intervals: watches in 2003, jewellery in 2005, small leather goods in 2011, and a first apparel collection in 2013 [9]. In 2023 the brand marked its 40th anniversary with a commemorative logo reinterpreting its eagle emblem, alongside a set of limited-edition products [11].

Police is owned by De Rigo S.p.A., the Italian eyewear group founded by the De Rigo family in 1978 as Charme Lunettes in Limana, Belluno [4]. De Rigo describes itself as a world leader in the design, production and distribution of high-end eyewear, operating across roughly 100 countries. Police is one of the group's four house brands, alongside Lozza, Sting and Yalea [3].

The fragrance side of the business is handled separately. Police perfumes are produced under license by Mavive S.p.A., a Venice-based company established in 1986 by Massimo Vidal and run by later generations of the Vidal family, whose involvement in body care dates to the early twentieth century [6].

Police positions itself around freedom, audacity and independence, values restated by the company's leadership at the 2023 anniversary [11]. Its stated audience is people with what the brand calls a "free and bold spirit" who stay authentic without seeking external validation. The idea is condensed in the tagline the company uses across its materials: "Audacity cannot be feigned, it must be owned" [2].

Within beauty, the signature product is the To Be fragrance line, built around a skull-shaped bottle that Mavive describes as having become an icon in the world of fashion [7]. The collection includes the founding release To Be or Not to Be and more recent additions such as To Be Hyperverse, launched as paired scents for men and women. A separate Contemporary range gathers classic fragrances including Police Original, Frozen, Cosmopolitan and Gentleman.

Police fragrances are distributed through the mainstream beauty market. Recent launches have leaned toward younger, digitally engaged audiences: the To Be Hyperverse release was tied to an activation inside the video game Fortnite [8].

Over the years the brand has drawn on well-known figures in its advertising. Wikipedia lists celebrities who have promoted Police including Bruce Willis, George Clooney, David Beckham, Antonio Banderas and Neymar, and it records the company as a partner and team supplier of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One team [9].

Police is an active, globally distributed brand. Its eyewear and lifestyle lines are owned by De Rigo, while its fragrances are produced under license by Mavive; both companies are based in Italy. Recent perfume launches through Mavive and the 2023 40th-anniversary campaign confirm ongoing activity, with distribution reported in more than 100 countries [12].