Latest Headlines – Page 149
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Zoobug Branches Out Beyond U.K.
Zoobug, a British brand of children's eyeglasses, has built up international sales with eight distributors and direct sales in 12 other countries. It expects to reach a turnover of up to £800,000 (€891,800-$1.3m) this year. Zoobug was launched in 2006 by Julie Diem Le, an eye surgeon, who started ...
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Alcon Looks To Emerging Markets For Growth
Alcon's worldwide sales rose by 5.9 percent to $1,614 million for the third quarter of 2009, or a 9.0 percent increase excluding currency effects. Net earnings were down by 17.9 percent to $515 million. Excluding the impact of a $240 million tax benefit and other extraordinary items, adjusted net earnings ...
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Hal And Marcolin Are Circling Around Safilo
Diego Della Valle, the owner of Tod's and a leading shareholder in Marcolin, and the investment group Hal Holding have both bought a stake of more than 2 percent in Safilo, rekindling speculation about the future of the troubled eyewear company. Della Valle bought a 2.06 percent stake and ...
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Mazzucchelli Closes Most Of Comotec's Facilities In France
Mazzucchelli, the world's leading producer of semi-finished acetate for frames, has decided to close the remaining facilities of Comotec, the manufacturer of metal components in the Jura region of France that the Italian group acquired in 2003 to give it complete control over the production of semi-finished frames. The site ...
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Italy Returns To Optional Labels Of Origin, Adding One For 100% Made In Italy
The Italian government has cancelled legislation introduced by Parliament compelling Italian brands to indicate where their manufactured products were made, creating chaos at customs and running the risk of being contested by the European Union. However, compulsory origin labeling continues to find support in Parliament and among industrialists and could ...
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Hoya Vision Care Relocates To Bangkok
After moving its global head office from Japan to the Netherlands four years ago, Hoya Vision Care has now moved it o, once again to Bangkok in Thailand, close to its five production facilities in the country, effective on Oct. 1. Gerry Bottero, the American executive who heads up ...
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Silmo Suffers From The Economy, Moves To New Fairgrounds
The number of visitors at the Silmo fair fell by about 20 percent as compared to last year. Total attendance was down to about 32,000 trade operators at the Sept. 17-20 show, and like last year, about 51 percent of them came from outside France. Many exhibitors praised the quality ...
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Ioft And Opti Munich Restructure, Too
The leading Japanese and German fairs are both introducing a distinct section for designer eyewear, following the successful model pioneered by Silmo and later adopted by Mido as well. The move has been prompted in part by a new initiative by the French Chamber of Commerce to support the promotion ...
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The German Industry Is Doing Fine
Stable 2009 revenues are predicted for the 150-odd producers of glasses, lenses and contact lenses that belong to the German eyewear industry association, Spectaris. In spite of the general economic situation, they are expected to reach a similar turnover as in 2008, with a slight sales increase in Germany offsetting ...
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Fittingbox Raises More Equity And Launches A Pos Module
FittingBox, a French high-tech company born in 2006, claims to have become the leading provider of testing solutions for glasses over the internet, with users trying out no less than 20 million pairs over the last 12 months by leading brands such as Ray-Ban and Lacoste and by leading optical ...
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Morel Defies The Economy
This French eyewear company, which has won many Silmo d'Or awards in the last few years, continues to grow in spite of the tough economic conditions, probably in part because of its very special business model. It is one of the few companies in the sector that does not rely ...
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Mikli: 70% Of The New Capital Will Be Used For New Investments
As previously report (EWI of May 13), the London investment fund Neo Capital has acquired 47 percent of the capital of Alain Mikli International for an undisclosed price, leaving the company's founder also with 47 percent. But the capital raised will not be used to cover the €4 million in ...
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Allison Targets Emerging Markets
Confirmation has now come through that the €33 million injected into the capital of Allison by its majority shareholder, Carisma, will be used to reduce the group's debt load, thus enabling the banks to regain confidence and confirm the credit lines previously negotiated. In 2008 Allison generated sales of €100 ...
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Fabris Lane Gets Special Help For Sales To Opticians
Fabris Lane, which claims to be Britain's largest supplier of sunglasses, working mainly with the multiple chains, has found a way to expand sales of its new prescription frames on the U.K. market. The company has entered into a loose partnership with William Morris Eyewear for the sale of its ...
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Area Licenses Its Own Brand Name While Losing Coco Song
Area and Coco Song are now proceeding along their separate paths. Based in Italy, Area was previously a company that was selling eyewear under its own name and those of Coco Song and various other brands, such as La Matta and Kaos, generating less turnover than previously reported, but it ...
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Hello Kitty: Polaroid, Opal And Inottica All On The Same Markets
Following on from an article in the last issue of EyeWear Intelligence, we can now confirm the existence of a number of non-exclusive licensees on the European market for Hello Kitty children's eyewear. Polaroid Eyewear received the license from the brand's owner, Sanrio, to produce eyewear for girls aged ten ...
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Pramaor Holds Its Own, ?All Italian, All Titanium'
Niche products are less affected by the recession, and can justify a medium to high price thanks to a high level of technology. Such is the case of the Belluno-based firm Pramaor, named after the mother of the current owner, Nicola Del Din, who originally established the firm to make ...
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Argo Vision Buying Group Will Destroy Glasses To Clear Unsold Inventories
Scrapping stock with the aid of the state in order to get rid of unsold inventories is a new proposition for opticians belonging to the Argo Vision buying group from the Abruzzo region of Italy, with 82 outlets in central Italy. The program is made possible thanks to the centralized ...
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Ppg-intercast Now Proposes Nxt Polymer For Frames
The NXT polymer, already used for sunglass lenses and for photochromatic prescription lenses, can also be used now for frames. Intercast indicated this application when it first presented the new material a few years ago, but now that the firm is part of the PPG Group, it has become a ...
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American Survey Highlights Personal Misconceptions About Visual Acuity
Forty-four percent of adults worldwide think that if they can see O.K., they have good eye health. They're wrong. A recent survey conducted in the U.S. for the Vision Care Institute, sponsored by Johnson & Johnson, looks at this and other misconceptions people have about vision. The Global ...
