Latest News Briefs
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News briefs
Kits Eyecare launches private label smart eyewear brand
Kits Eyecare, the Canadian-based online optical retailer, has announced the launch of the Pangolin Smart Glasses Line, its own brand of smart eyewear. The “smart” element in Pangolin glasses is limited to voice interactions that for example allow wearers to chat with their favorite AI chat tool, listen to podcasts, ...
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News briefs
CooperVision builds new facility in the UK
CooperVision has annouced the building of a new, state-of-the-art technical, commercial and business hub in Southampton, UK. Called the Vision Centre and set for completion in 2026, the 10-000 square meter facility will regroup the company’s UK-based R&D and global technical innovations teams and various commercial functions under the same ...
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News briefs
JINS opens a subsidiary in Vietnam, upgrades financial outlook
Japanese-based retail group JINS has announced the opening of a subsidiary in Vietnam, scheduled for November this year, with an initial capital of approximately 440 million Japanese yen (€2.5m). The branch will focus on the development of JINS retail business in the country. The group’s first Vietnamese store is scheduled ...
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News briefs
Magrabi on track to almost double Doctor M network this year
In an interview with Arab News, Souha Hasan, Vice President of mainstrean business at the MAGRABI Retail Group, explained that the company is on track to open 36 new stores of its lifestyle direct-to-customer brand Doctor M in the course of 2024. This would bring the banner’s retail footprint to ...
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News briefs
Switzerland includes myopia management in basic health insurance
Effective July 1, 2024, Switzerland has included myopia management into the basic coverage of its national health care system for patients up to 21 years old and under certain conditions, according to a report by the European Council of Optometry and Optics (ECOO), the organization regrouping European eye care professionals’ ...
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News briefs
Johnson & Johnson sees 2% contact lens sales drop in Q2
Johnson & Johnson reported contact lens sales totaling $918 million in the second quarter of 2024, down by a reported 2.2 percent compared to the year earlier but 0.7 percent higher at constant currency rates. Sales growth on a constant-currency basis was driven by the continued strong performance of the ...
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News briefs
OBE designer workshop draws record participation
OBE, the German-based manufacturer of hinges, welcomed 25 industry participants from 15 companies to its annual eyewear designer workshop at its headquarters on July 11. The company said it was a record participation for the 27th edition of the event, which was complemented this year by a guest presentation by ...
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News briefs
Nau! opens made-to-measure eyewear store in Milan
The Italian optical retailer Nau! said it has opened its first store in Milan featuring its personalized Nau!Me eyewear. The store is located in Corso Buenos Aires, a central Milan shopping district. Nau!Me eyewear is produced in the company’s factory in Castiglione Olona in northern Italy. Nau! claims that its ...
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News briefsZeiss opens a combined R&D center and factory in China
Zeiss Group opened a combined R&D center and factory on July 8 at Suzhou Industrial Park, near the delta of the Yangtze River. This is the first time in its 67 years of operation in the country that Zeiss has purchased land in China. There, the company has built a ...
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News briefs
Read on appoints first distributor in Europe
Read on, a Swiss-based brand of ultralight readers, has signed a distribution partnership for Switzerland and Austria with Prolens, a supplier of contact lenses, care products and dry-eye solutions. Thanks to the agreement, Read on now has a warehouse in Europe, in addition to those in Switzerland and the US, ...
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News briefsCione reviews 2023, looks forward through 2027
Cione Óptica y Audiología held its general meeting in June, as Look Vision reports.The Spanish buying group said that its membership rose by 50 opticians last year, reaching a total of 1,100 points of sale in Spain and 120 in Portugal. According to surveys conducted by Opinat, member satisfaction with ...
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News briefsVSP Vision's iCare buys Miami clinic
iCare Health Solutions has acquired Beraja Medical Group, a 35-year-old clinic in the city of Coral Gables, within Greater Miami. Beraja has three specialties: ophthalmology, surgical and non-surgical cosmetic procedures, and ocuplastic surgery (reconstruction of the eyelids, eyebrows, forehead and cheeks). The change will apparently be limited to ownership, as ...
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News briefsEU prosecutors allege customs fraud on Chinese imports
On June 25 and 26, expecting to find illegally imported eyewear from China, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Paris had 90 policemen conduct simultaneous searches of 17 sites in Belgium, France and the Netherlands, as we have learned from Acuité. It is unclear from the EPPO’s statement whether ...
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News briefs
Topcon Healthcare appoints new chief commercial officer
Topcon Healthcare has announced the appointment of Lance Patton as its new chief commercial officer. Patton, an experienced eyecare industry executive with previous management roles at Carl Zeiss Meditec, Heidelberg Engineering and most recently Optos, will lead the company’s commercial transformation to a direct sales and service organization, the announcement ...
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News briefs
Fielmann Group upgrades outlook as Shopko Optical acquisition is completed
Fielmann Group has upgraded its outlook for the ongoing financial year following the closure of Shopko Optical’s acquisition on July 1. The investment in the Wisconsin-based retail chain, which operates a network of 140 stores for annual sales estimated at over $100 million, was first announced last month. The German ...
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News briefs
Safilo Group launches share buyback program
Safilo Group has announced the launch of a share buyback program for a maximum of 11 million shares, or 2.7 percent of currently issued shares, between July 1 and Dec. 1, 2024. The program, which was approved by shareholders during Safilo’s annual meeting in April, is aimed at servicing the ...
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News briefs
National Vision appoints new chief stores officer
National Vision, the US optical retail group with over 1,400 shops, has announced the appointment of Mark Banner as its new chief stores officer. Banner was most recently serving as senior vice president of retail and real estate at Sleep Number, an American brand of beds, mattresses and other sleep-related ...
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News briefs
De Rigo Rem has a new president
De Rigo Group has announced the appointment of Jeff Fitzhugh as president of its De Rigo Rem subsidiary in the US, effective July 8. Fitzhugh has been working for close to thirty years in the sportswear, surfwear and optical industries holding senior management roles at companies such as Oakley, Quiksilver ...
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News briefs
Top US retailers doubled growth pace last year
The 50 largest US optical retailers increased their sales by 8.0 percent year-on-year to an estimated $21.0 billion with 16,369 shops, according to the annual report by Vision Monday. This marks an acceleration from 2022 where their combined revenue was up by 4.0 percent versus 2021. Vision Source, the retail ...
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News briefs
CECOP updates corporate image
CECOP, the Spanish-based buying group with over 8,000 members across 8 countries, is updating its corporate image with a new logo and a new video on its website homepage. “The evolution of the logo moves away from the representation of a target, focusing on variety, community, and growth. The emphasis ...
