All News briefs articles – Page 8
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News briefs
KITS up 32 % in Q3
Canadian-based online retailer KITS Eyecare has reported a 32 percent year-on-year increase in Q3 revenue to $31.2 million, which the company said was driven by strong repeat customer revenue in both contact lens and eyeglasses and higher average order value. Quarterly sales of eyeglasses sligthly underperformed as they were up ...
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News briefs
Flö-Optics signs with three U.S. labs
Flö-Optics, the additive manufacturing company that recently signed a partnership with PPG, has announced that it has signed agreements with three U.S. ophthalmic labs - Cherry Optical Lab, Encore Optical and Superior Optical Labs - which will be the first ones to make use of its coating technology. Orders were ...
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News briefs
Michael Pachleitner has died
Dr. Michael Pachleitner, the founder and CEO of the eponymous Austrian-based eyewear group, died on Oct. 31, 2023, the company has announced. Dr. Pachleitner took over the family optical store in 1984 at the age of 24, and progressively turned it into the Michael Pachleitner Group, an international and vertically-integrated ...
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News briefs
EssilorLuxottica joins AR alliance
EssilorLuxottica has joined the just created AR Alliance as a founding member with a seat on the board, the organization has announced. According to its mission statement, AR Alliance ”provides a supportive and neutral environment for companies and organizations of all sizes to take an active role in advancing and ...
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News briefs
Bausch + Lomb sales edge up 3% in Q3
Bausch + Lomb’s sales of its contact lenses totaled $228 million in the third quarter of 2023, up by a reported three percent compared to the year earlier and five percent higher at constant currency rates. Growth was led by the continued strong performance of the Infuse/Ultra One Day daily ...
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News briefs
Contact-lens disposal explained in pictures
Canada’s Centre for Ocular Research & Education (CORE) has expanded on a set of infographics it produced earlier this year to lay out the proper disposal and recycling of contact lenses. The original set of four, in English, has now been translated in 24 other languages – among them Afrikaans, ...
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News briefs
Mister Spex wins German Sustainability Award
Mister Spex has announced that it has won the German Sustainability Award in the “Pharmacies and Medical Retail” sector. The award is organized by the German Sustainability Award Foundation (Stiftung Deutscher Nachhaltigkeitpreis) in collaboration with the German Federal Ministry for the Environment and the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce. ...
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News briefs
Topcon upgrades outlook after solid H1
Japanese-based hardware manufacturer Topcon has upgraded its full-year outlook for its eye care business unit after sales went up by 9 percent year-on-year to 34.5 billion Japanese yen (€216m) in the first half of its 2023/24 fiscal year, thanks notably to stable investments in screening, optometry and diagnostic equipment by ...
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News briefs
Charmant partners with Fapi Group in Italy
Charmant Group has announced the signature of an exclusive distribution agreement for Italy with Fapi Group. Initially focusing on the contact lenses’ market, Fapi Group has progressively developed a portfolio of eyeglasses and sunglasses’ brands, most notably through its partnership with Menrad. The Italian company is distributing Charmant’s house brands ...
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News briefs
Lenskart completes acquisition of AI-powered analytics tech company
Indian-based retail group Lenskart has fully acquired the business of Tango Eye, a tech company in which it had started to invest in 2020, according to several Indian business news websites. Tango Eye has developed an AI-powered technology that analyzises in-store customer trafic and behavior, including interactions with the shop’s ...
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News briefs
Italian consortium OTTIMI reaches over 200 optical shops
OTTIMI, the Italian consortium launched in February 2022 with the aim of promoting the optical sector and “safeguarding opticians” working outside of the large multinationals, said it now counts over 200 optical centers across Italy as members. OTTIMI considers its flagship product to be the training programs it offers to ...
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News briefs
IOT enters myopia management market
IOT, the Spanish and U.S.-based lens manufacturer, has announced that it was entering the myopia management segment with the launch of MyoLess, a new lens developed to slow down the progression of axial elongation in chidren’s eyes. “The lens incorporates asymmetric positive defocus on the back surface, calibrated to the ...
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News briefs
Inspecs maintains growth pace in Q3
INSPECS Group has announced a 4.6 percent year-on-year increase in revenue to £159.1 million (€182.3 m) for the first nine months of this year. At constant exchange rates, sales increased by 2.4 percent versus the same period in 2022, in line with the 2.3 percent hike announced earlier this year ...
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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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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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News briefs
CooperVision gets LEED Gold certificate for Puerto Rico factory
CooperVision has announced that its contact lens factory in Puerto Rico has seen its LEED Silver certification upgraded to the LEED Gold level. The 540,000 square meter plant where the company produces its MyDay and Biofinity products is the second CooperVision manufacturing facility to be certified LEED Gold, after the ...
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News briefs
New director of shows for Vision Expo
The Vision Council, which co-organizes the Vision Expo shows with RX, has announced the promotion of Suzanne Krauss to the position of director of Vision Expo East and Vision Expo West. Krauss has been working for the last 16 years in the industry body as industry relations manager on the ...
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News briefs
Nexeye launching recycled house brand
Benelux retail group Nexeye is launching Ciircle, a new acetate-based eyewear brand made from old glasses and residual waste from production at one of its suppliers’ factory. The group will roll out the collection, which includes 9 unisex designs available in a total of 23 colors, in all its Hans ...
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News briefs
ANFAO unveils restricted substances list, elects new president of lens group
Italian eyewear association ANFAO and its majority-owned certification subsidiary Certottica on Oct. 13 unveiled their first Product Restricted Substances List (PRLS) for eyewear. According to ANFAO, the list will be constantly updated and is meant to be a “clear and effective” handbook covering product conformity parameters in the main international ...
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News briefs
Vision Expo East opts for the Sunshine State
Like many a New Yorker, Vision Expo East will be heading for balmy Florida after about 40 years of activity. Co-owners The Vision Council and RX will be moving the show to Orlando, Florida – specifically to the Orange County Convention Center – after next year’s edition, scheduled for March ...