Latest Headlines – Page 143
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Grasset Becomes Independent Again
Kappa 26, the holding company of the French L'Amy eyewear group, has sold Lunettes Grasset back to the family that founded the company in 1895. Backed by Actem Partners, an investment fund controlled by Natexis, the management buyout sees the brothers Henri and Pierre-Elie Grasset taker over the financially sound ...
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Rem Partners With Mondottica In Europe For Converse And More
REM Eyewear and Mondottica International have formed a partnership in Europe for the distribution of Converse eyewear. A new 50-50 joint venture, Remdottica, will soon start distributing Converse eyewear in the U.K., Ireland, France and Spain from Mondottica's new office in Nottingham, England. The two companies will also collaborate on ...
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Polaroid Gets A Sub-license For Columbia Eyewear In Non-optical European Stores
Another interesting collaborative effort in Europe was announced a few days ago concerning another American sports brand, Columbia Sportswear, whose eyewear is licensed to the U.S. subsidiary of the French 200-year-old L'Amy group. As in the case of Converse eyewear (see previous article), specific styles are being developed for the ...
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J.F. Rey Launches A Skyeyes Web Shop For Sunglasses, Among Other Initiatives
Jean-François Rey, the well-known French eyewear designer, continues to launch new initiatives and to explore new markets. This follows the acquisition last year by his company, BLI DBP, of a 50 percent stake in its major producer in the Jura region of France, Ellaps, and its move into a larger ...
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Marcolin Boosts First-quarter Sales And Profits Thanks To Many New Lines
Marcolin boosted its first-quarter sales and profits, and the management attributes the improvements to efforts made over the past years to reinforce the product range and increase efficiencies. The Italian eyewear group, which launched five new collections over the past 18 months, pointed out that, on average, new licensees take ...
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Indo Works On Personalized Frames
Indo International is working to develop a method for making personalized glasses, using three-dimensional geometric templates with fixed and parametrical parts to fit the individual customer's facial characteristics and his or her needs. The measurements would be taken during the purchasing process at opticians' shops, using 3D scanners. Indo ...
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Mintel Takes A Look At The British Optical Market
In its latest annual study of the ophthalmic market in the U.K., Mintel has found that even though more than 70 percent of eye tests are free there, their total number went down by 7 percent to 16.55 million in 2009 because of the economic crisis. Sales of ophthalmic equipment ...
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Italian Senators Push For Origin Labeling Of Eyewear
Two senators of the Northern League coalition party in the Italian government, Gianvittore Vaccari and Mario Pittoni, have proposed a bill to introduce mandatory country origin labeling for eyewear. The proposal has to be examined by parliamentary committees before a formal debate. If approved by the Senate it will also ...
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The Italian State Helps Eyewear Producers To Modernize
The Italian government has accepted to finance a plan put forward by the country's eyewear producers and retailers for the modernization of the supply chain, forming a more integrated Italian cluster. Some €16 million of the project's total cost of around €26 million will be covered by suppliers and retailers, ...
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The Second Vision Business Forum Will Run In Rome On June 18-20
As we have already reported, the dates of the Italian Vision Business Forum, held for the first time in Rome in 2009, have been brought forward from September to June, running from Friday the 18th through to Sunday the 20th. The forum's 51 exhibitors will occupy small booths in the ...
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Chinese Polarone Hits Back, But Italian Polar Pursues Its Legal Action
A Chinese eyewear company, PolarOne Eyewear, has hit back at allegations that it copied the designs of a rival Italian company, which resulted in frames being confiscated from its show during the Mido exhibition in Milan last March (see previous issue). The claims were made by an Italian frame manufacturer, ...
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Women Are Beginning To Dominate The Retail Landscape
This is the case now at least in France and in parts of the U.K. In France, the number of certified opticians reached 20,707 in January, according to the French statistical office, and 50.3 percent of them are women. The number of new certifications has increased in the last few ...
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Australian Retailer Assesses Attitudes Toward Eyewear
OPSM, the Australian optical retailing group owned by Luxottica, recently commissioned a survey on people's opinions on those who wear glasses. More than 800 people surveyed by Stellar Research Company answered several questions about how they perceive people with eyewear. Among men, 82.7 percent said that glasses can ...
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Record Sales In 2009 For Top U.S. Retail Companies
The 50 largest optical retailers in the U.S. managed to squeeze out record sales of about $7,289 million last year despite the ongoing economic problems. According to Vision Monday's Top 50 U.S. Optical Retailers report, available now, many of the companies benefitted from the addition of new stores. Together they ...
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Ruedi Suter Becomes Chairman And Ceo Of Pro Fit Optix
Rudolf Suter is the well-known industry veteran who built up the former Satis Vacuum into the world's biggest supplier of anti-reflective lens coating equipment and then sold it in 1998 to Schweiter, which merged the business with Loh in 2004 to form Satisloh, the company that was acquired by Essilor ...
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Design Awards For Logo And Zeiss
Tag-Heuer Avant-Garde Eyewear, one of the major licenses of the French Logo group, has won a Red Dot Design Award for the latest version of its night driving goggle, called Squadra Night Vision. Developed on an exclusive basis and jointly patented with BNL, its light yellow lenses are said to ...
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Transitions Gets Sued Over Its Practices In The U.S.
Several optical laboratories and retailers in the U.S. have filed for legal action against Transitions Optical, Essilor of America and Essilor Laboratories of America, saying they violated antitrust laws in order to maintain a monopoly. There are now six claims against the companies from direct purchasers in Indiana, Florida, Connecticut, ...
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Vision Loss Is Estimated To Cost $3 Trillion Worldwide
AMD Alliance International has a presented a report showing an annual cost to the world community of $2,955 billion from health care expenditures, informal care-giver time, lost productivity and inefficiencies in the tax system because of low vision and blindness, which affect 733 million people around the world. With the ...
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Fielmann Is Making Higher Profits Again
Financial analysts are predicting improved profitability for Fielmann, which booked increases of only 0.4 percent in pre-tax and net earnings last year, after a rather positive first quarter in which its sales grew by 3.5 percent on a same-store basis and by 4.8 percent overall. Analysts are now expecting Fielmann ...
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Fielmann Raises Investments To Gain Market Shares In Four Countries
Having reported its 2009 results, Fielmann is looking to the future, planning to invest more than €46 million this year and more than €48 million next year, compared with €41.1 million in 2009. Geographically, €40 million will be spent this year in Germany, €1 million in Austria and Poland, and ...
