Eyewear by David Beckham: A Football Icon's Second Act in Fashion

Few athletes have made the transition from sports icon to genuine fashion figure as convincingly as David Beckham. Decades after his final match, Beckham has built a business empire spanning grooming, fragrance, and fashion — and his eyewear line has become one of its most consistently successful chapters.

From Manchester United to global icon

David Beckham signed his first professional contract with Manchester United in 1992 at just 17 years old, going on to play more than 400 games for the club and winning two FA Cups, six Premier League titles, the UEFA Champions League, the Intercontinental Cup, and two Charity Shields. In 2003, he left England to join Real Madrid, later playing for LA Galaxy before ending his playing career at Paris Saint-Germain and retiring from football in 2013.

Beckham's transition into fashion and business began well before his playing career ended. Over the years, he's lent his image and partnered with major brands including Adidas, Gillette, H&M, Marks & Spencer, and L'Oréal, alongside launching his own ventures — a men's grooming line called House 99 and a range of David Beckham Fragrances.

A ten-year partnership with Safilo: 2019

Eyewear by David Beckham launched through a global ten-year licensing agreement signed in 2019 between Beckham and the Safilo Group, the Italian eyewear manufacturer whose portfolio has also included Dior, Fendi, Givenchy, and Max Mara. The first collection debuted on January 21, 2020, developed through close collaboration between Beckham and Safilo's in-house design team. Beckham described the appeal of the category directly: "I wear sunglasses all the time and this is a category that I love... it's important to me to work with a partner who cares as much about the design and craftsmanship of the product as I do."

The launch campaign leaned into Beckham's own family: his eldest son, Brooklyn, shot a black-and-white short film starring his father driving to a holiday home while wearing the brand's debut sunglasses — a quiet, deliberately understated introduction that matched the collection's overall design philosophy.

A design identity built on British craftsmanship

Eyewear by David Beckham is built around what Safilo describes as "effortless British style and attitude with a vintage spirit." The collection's signature design element is the Talisman — a metallic detail inspired by the wings of a bird, meant to symbolize power, protection, and freedom, visible from both the front and side of the frame. A second recurring detail, the DB Monogram, draws inspiration from the kind of initials found on the cuff of a tailored shirt, subtly signaling craftsmanship and sophistication. Every pair also carries Beckham's signature discreetly placed inside the temples alongside a chiseled metal core.

The collection is organized into distinct design concepts — including Timeless Icon, Style Pioneer, and The Traveller — spanning wayfarer, browline, aviator, round, and rectangular silhouettes in acetate and metal, finished with special lens options including polarized, photochromic, and mineral glass lenses prized for their scratch resistance and rigidity.

A perpetual license: 2024

In 2024, Safilo and David Beckham's licensing arrangement (by then managed through Authentic Brands Group) evolved into a perpetual license agreement, replacing the original contract that had been set to expire in 2030. Safilo Group CEO Angelo Trocchia described the brand's growth as remarkable, noting that the label had become "a top male brand in the global premium segment" within just a few years of its 2020 debut. Trocchia framed the shift to a perpetual agreement as a strategic move to consolidate a proven, high-performing asset permanently rather than face the uncertainty of renewing a license before it expired — a structure also used elsewhere in the industry, including Marcolin's perpetual license with Tom Ford.

A family business in eyewear

David Beckham's wife, Victoria Beckham, has built a parallel eyewear collection under her own eponymous label, which she introduced almost as soon as she founded her fashion house in 2008. Her eyewear was initially developed in-house with UK specialist Cutler & Gross, then licensed to Marchon in 2019, before signing her own ten-year global licensing agreement with Safilo in 2025 — making Safilo the manufacturing partner for both halves of the Beckham family's eyewear businesses.

Where the brand stands today

Eyewear by David Beckham has grown steadily since its 2020 launch, with Safilo releasing new Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter collections each year. The brand continues to be positioned around a masculine, understated design sensibility rooted in Beckham's own London origins, distributed globally across both retail and travel-retail channels.