All Corporate articles – Page 8
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News briefs
Serengeti Eyewear operations return to the U.S.
Bollé Brands has announced that it was moving its global Serengeti Eyewear operations from Lyon, France, to its U.S. headquarters in Carlsbad, California in order to reignite the “American soul” of the brand. The relocated global management positions include brand vision, marketing, creative and product development and will come under ...
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News briefs
Wiley X to reshore assembling of products at HQ
Wiley X, the U.S.-based brand of protective eyewear for professionals and outdoor enthusiasts, has announced that it would start to assemble all new products from its 2024 collections and beyond in-house at its headquarters in Frisco, Texas. The company said that the initiative would enable it to expand its manufacturing ...
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ArticleBacked by new financial partner, Opal-Demetz plans more M&A
We have learned at the recent Mido show in Milan that Opal-Demetz, the French company specializing in children’s eyewear, sports eyewear and low-cost frames known as in France a “deuxième paire” (a second pair of eyeglasses, sold at a nominal fee to customers), opened its capital to private equity at ...
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News briefsMark’ennovy inaugurates European hub
Mark’ennovy has transferred its factory to the city of Getafe, outside Madrid, and thereby quintupled its capacity. In fact, the Getafe site is to become the company’s hub for Europe and serve as its showcase for the broader EMEA region. Source: Mack’ennovy Since last February, when Euclid ...
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ArticleRodenstock upgrades portfolio, fine-tunes group strategy and synergies
After its participation at the opti show in Munich in January, Rodenstock presented its latest innovations at its booth during the Mido show in Milan, from Feb. 3 to 5. The German-based lens maker introduced this year its new LayR coating, which it describes as an extension of its biometric ...
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ArticleZeiss acquires IP from Mitsui Chemicals
Zeiss Vision Care has acquired a “comprehensive intellectual property (IP) portfolio, including a suite of patents,” from Mitsui Chemicals (MCI), a Japanese company with wide-ranging business lines, among them “vision care materials,” and an R&D department split between synthesis, polymer science and tech for manufacturing processes. Zeiss has not disclosed ...
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News briefsMPG is closing its Belgian retail operations
Following reports from the Belgian retail trade press, Michael Ksela, CEO of Retail Optical Stores Netherlands, the company operating the Eye Wish retail chain, has confirmed that Retail Optical Stores Belgium, the entity behind the 35 Grand Optical stores in the country, has filed for bankruptcy proceedings. The two structures ...
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News briefs
Essilux officially inaugurates two industrial sites in Mexico
EssilorLuxottica officials were busy cutting ribbons in Mexico last week as the group officially inaugurated two industrial sites in Tijuana and Chihuahua. The new facility in Tijuana is expected to produce an additional 10 million pairs of optical lenses per year once fully operational and will ship up to 25 ...
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ArticleStore network upgrade, digitization and HR key to Paris Miki rebound
Like all well-established Japan retailers across all sectors, Paris Miki is facing an apparently unsolvable equation: finding sustainable growth in a country where the population is forecast to decline by approximately five percent every ten years. While many of these companies are heavily investing to develop their business abroad, particularly ...
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News briefs
Vuzix announces wide-ranging cost cutting program
Smart glasses company Vuzix has announced the start of a significant cost reduction program that is expected to result in a 25 percent reduction of cash annual expenses, corresponding to approximately $8 million. The changes will include job cuts across the company’s major divisions on a global scale, notably in ...
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News briefs
Out Of raises over €7 million in crowdfunding campaign
Out Of, the Italian-based sport eyewear start-up, has raised a total of €7.6 million from approximately 580 investors through a 30-day crowdfunding campaign on Mamacrowd earlier this autumn. According to Italian media, it was the largest ever crowdfunding campaign in Italy, close to the legal €8 million upper limit. New ...
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News briefs
French OEM maker rescued by three clients
Theo, J.F. Rey and John Dalia have joined forces to take over the business of Cemo Decovision, their common supplier, in an eleventh-hour rescue operation as the Morbier-based eyewear maker was put into liquidation on Nov. 17. In a press release published earlier this week, the newly-formed consortium explained that ...
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News briefs
Fast-growing MEI to expand HQ and U.S. site
MEI, the Italian-based supplier of equipment for lens laboratories and shops, has announced the start of expansion work to double the surface of its headquarters in the Bergamo province from 10,000 to 20,000 square meters and the construction of a new site in the U.S. as its business keeps growing ...
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ArticleMagrabi aims to consolidate regional leadership before entering new markets
Following up on our article last February about the expansion of MAGRABI Retail Group, the leading optical retailer in the Middle East region, we talked with Yasser Taher, who was appointed CEO of the family-owned group at the start of this year, after having served as Chief Operating Officer since ...
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News briefs
Lanson opens Vietnamese factory
Chinese-based OEM manufacturer Lanson Optical has announced the opening of a new factory in Hanoi, Vietnam, its first production facility outside mainland China. The company said that the political and economic environment in Vietnam as well as the many free-trade agreements the country signed with other regions in recent years ...
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ArticleiVision Tech CEO details group’s strategy
Still a relatively newcomer in the Italian and international eyewear sector, iVision Tech has gathered a lot of attention from the industry in recent months with the company’s debut on the Euronext Growth Milan stock exchange this summer and the acquisition of French high-end eyewear maker Henry Jullien just before ...
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News briefs
Optical Center CEO investigated for massive money laundering
According to an investigation by Mediapart, a French online news service, Laurent Lévy, CEO and owner of Optical Center, is suspected by the country’s tax authorities of having embezzled approximately €275 million from the group between 2018 and 2022. The executive has reportedly built up a system through which companies ...
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ArticleAkoni Group puts focus on craftsmanship-loving opticians and consumers
In the wake of the recent Silmo show in Paris, where the company was exhibiting its eyewear collections – house brand Akoni Eyewear and licensed fashion brands Balmain and Valentino – for the first time, we talked with Rosario Toscano, CEO of Akoni Group, about the DNA and the development ...
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News briefs
Lentechs raises $6 m to develop new multifocal lens’ technology
Lentechs, a U.S. clinical-stage ophthalmic device company focusing on innovative contact lens technology, has completed a $6 million fundraise from Vision Vestments and other financial investors. Lentechs said the funds would be allocated to achieve key clinical research and manufacturing development objectives for APIOC, its line of contact lenses specifically ...
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Article10-year old Swiss Eyewear Group has passed the 20 million pairs’ mark
Swiss Eyewear Group, the eyewear company behind the INVU brand of polarized sunglasses, has announced that it has sold over 20 million pairs since the creation of the company ten years ago. As reported then in Eyewear Intelligence, the company was founded by a group of former senior managers of ...
