IOT aims for last-mile manufacturing with new, sustainable lens tech
If you have never heard about frontal photopolymerization, you are not alone. We too never had. However, if the promise made by Indizen Optical Technologies (IOT) with its new Light-Form Technology is fulfilled – no less than “a true paradigm shift in prescription lens manufacturing” – the industry may soon ...
Bidco builds up stake in INSPECS amid stalled takeover process
The acquisition process of INSPECS Group by Bidco 1125, a new company created by British entrepreneurs Luke Johnson and Ian Livingstone, seems to have stalled as the eyewear company announced last Friday that the proxy shareholders’ votes received so far, if unchanged, would not enable the acquisition. Therefore, INSPECS is ...
Menicon turns 75 with brand new dailies factory in Malaysia
Menicon inaugurated yesterday its new daily contact lenses manufacturing facility in Kedah, Malaysia, in presence of officials from the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA). The building of the factory was first announced in 2022, and commercial production is now starting, only a few days before the 75th anniversary of the ...
MIDO attendance holds steady despite market difficulties
Attendance figures at the MIDO trade fair that ran from Jan. 31 to Feb. 2 in Milan matched those of the previous edition despite market difficulties provoked by tariffs and uncertainty on economic and geopolitical fronts that contributed to a decline in Italian eyewear exports last year.
Tenpoint wins FDA approval for presbyopia drops, raises $235m
Tenpoint Therapeutics has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Yuvezzi (carbachol and brimonidine tartrate ophthalmic solution – formerly called Brimochol PF), which the company describes as “the first and only dual-agent eye drop for the treatment of presbyopia in adults.” Tenpoint expects to begin US ...
Mitsui reports modest Life & Healthcare revenue hike, discusses vision care strategy
Mitsui Chemicals’ Life & Healthcare Solutions revenue inched up by 1.3 percent year over year to 174.1 billion Japanese yen (€941m) for the first nine months of fiscal 2024/25. Q3 sales were up by 2.6 percent. The division includes the group’s vision care materials business, among others (oral care, agrochemical ...
US optical market up 4% in 2025 despite lower volumes
The US optical market value amounted to $69.5 billion last year, according to the latest Market inSights research by The Vision Council (TVC), the country’s eyewear industry association. The calculated value includes exams, frames, ophthalmic lenses, contact lenses, plano sunglasses and readers and, by TVC’s definition, captures consumer payments plus ...
HOYA eyeglass lens sales up 11% in Q3 despite soft US/Europe performance
HOYA Corporation’s eyeglass lens sales were up by 11 percent year on year in the three months to Dec. 31, 2025, the group announced earlier today. In constant currencies, they increased by 6 percent.
Safilo reports sales slowdown, higher margins for Q4
Safilo Group revenue in Q4 2025 dropped by 4.6 percent year on year to €225.0 million, according to the company’s preliminary results released yesterday. At constant rates, quarterly sales inched up by 0.4 percent versus Q4 2024 but that still marked a slowdown from the previous quarter (+2.3 percent in ...
Italian eyewear exports fall 4% in 2025 as sales to US tumble, industry pivots to other markets
The value of Italian eyewear exports slipped by 3.9 percent to €5.021 billion in 2025, as sales to the US tumbled by 34.0 percent but growth was seen throughout Europe as well as in China and other emerging markets, according to preliminary data released by the Italian eyewear association ANFAO. ...
Meta Reality Labs revenue up only slightly in 2025 despite three-fold jump in wearables sales
Meta Reality Labs division revenue declined by 11.8 percent year on year to $955 million in Q4 2025 due to a drop in VR sales as no new headset was released this year, the group announced yesterday. In the full year, Reality Labs sales, which also includes Ray-Ban Meta smart ...
House of Modo launches $200 smart audio glasses, revs up growth plans with new investors
House of Modo has entered the smart eyewear market with a new brand called EyeFly, which made its debut at the MIDO trade fair with audio-only smart glasses set to come with an average price tag of about $200.
Hong Kong smart eyewear company seeks 'billions of dollars' in damages from Meta-Essilux
Solos Technology, a Hong Kong-based smart glasses company, is suing Meta Platforms, Meta Platforms Technologies, Oakley, Luxottica of America and EssilorLuxottica USA for “willful direct and indirect patent infringement” of its own “foundational technologies.” The case was filed with the US District Court of Massachusetts on Jan. 23, 2025, and ...
The European eyecare sector remains an attractive M&A market
There were 28 company transactions – including full takeovers and acquisitions of minority stakes – in the eyecare and eyewear sector in Europe in 2025, according to a recent report by Houlihan Lokey, a global investment bank monitoring the sector and other consumer markets. The company was involved last year ...
Macron’s Davos shades put Henry Jullien in the spotlight
French president Emmanuel Macron did not go unnoticed at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this week. He wore a pair of high-end reflective aviator sunglasses during his speech, indoors. The unusual look was intended to cover a burst blood vessel in his eye, his office explained.