All Trade & Sourcing articles
-
ArticleAsia-led ODM growth powers Sun Hing’s H2 rebound
Sun Hing Vision Group’s consolidated turnover rose 7.5 percent year on year to HK$891 million (€97m) for the year ended March 31, 2026, “despite the overall poor operating environment,” the company said. The full-year growth reflects a sharp turnaround: after a muted 2.9 percent rise in H1, revenue in H2 ...
-
ArticleItaly eyewear exports fall 6.1% in Q1 as US market continues to shrink
The value of Italian eyewear exports in the first quarter of 2026 fell by 6.1 percent to €1.34 billion, as another sharp decline in sales to the US was only partly offset by gains in Europe and other markets, according to figures from Italian eyewear trade association Anfao. Exports to ...
-
ArticleSENZ and the bid to bundle AR’s visual stack
On June 17 Applied Materials announced an OEM system for smart glasses, comprising waveguide optics, a light engine, sensing, vision correction and electronic dimming. Called SENZ, the system is pitched as cutting time-to-market and manufacturing complexity for brands seeking to build AI-powered display glasses. Applied says it is addressing a ...
-
News briefs
Menicon opens automated distribution hub in Germany
Menicon announced last week that its subsidiary Menicon SC GmbH officially opened a new automated dispatch facility on May 19, 2026, at its site in Offenbach am Main, near Frankfurt, after four years of development. The ceremony marks the site’s transformation from a traditional logistics center into a technology-driven distribution ...
-
News briefs
Mister Spex outsources logistics, expands Rodenstock partnership
As part of its ongoing turnaround plan, Mister Spex is outsourcing its logistics to Arvato, a supply chain service provider, and closing its own site in Berlin Spandau, the company announced. Arvato will take over inbound and outbound logistics, warehousing, and returns management for the struggling retail group. Approximately 125 ...
-
ArticleTVC urges US importers to stay on their toes for new tariffs wave this summer
In an online webinar on June 15, The Vision Council (TVC), the US eyewear industry association, updated its members on the fast-changing and multi-layered issues related to the country’s import duties. While the first part of the discussion focused on advice for importers to navigate the complex refund process for ...
-
ArticleThe Vision Council urges USTR to exclude optical components from new tariffs review
The Vision Council, the national trade association for the U.S. optical industry, has urged the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) to exclude eyewear and optical products from any new tariffs resulting from its current Section 301 investigations. The scope of the targeted industries mostly focuses on materials and ...
-
ArticleVeneVision looks to launch new eyewear brands, scouting for opportunities
VeneVision is looking to increase the weight of its own brands in its sales mix as it moves to further expand its offering across the supply chain, Nicola Belli, CEO of the Italian eyewear manufacturer, told Eyewear Intelligence in a recent interview. In-house brands are considered VeneVision’s “strategic asset for ...
-
News briefs
Daegu government launches K-Eyewear policy initiative
The Daegu Metropolitan Government (South Korea) officially launched the K-Eyewear Global Policy Council yesterday, a public-private initiative aimed at supporting the development of the country’s eyewear industry which “has suffered from low-price attacks from latecomers.” The government, however, stressed that the “hallyu” (the global spread of the country’s pop culture) ...
-
ArticleIOT aims for last-mile manufacturing with new, sustainable lens tech
If you have never heard about frontal photopolymerization, you are not alone. We too never had. However, if the promise made by Indizen Optical Technologies (IOT) with its new Light-Form Technology is fulfilled – no less than “a true paradigm shift in prescription lens manufacturing” – the industry may soon ...
-
ArticleMenicon turns 75 with brand new dailies factory in Malaysia
Menicon inaugurated yesterday its new daily contact lenses manufacturing facility in Kedah, Malaysia, in presence of officials from the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA). The building of the factory was first announced in 2022, and commercial production is now starting, only a few days before the 75th anniversary of the ...
-
ArticleItalian eyewear exports fall 4% in 2025 as sales to US tumble, industry pivots to other markets
The value of Italian eyewear exports slipped by 3.9 percent to €5.021 billion in 2025, as sales to the US tumbled by 34.0 percent but growth was seen throughout Europe as well as in China and other emerging markets, according to preliminary data released by the Italian eyewear association ANFAO. ...
-
News briefs
Evonik launches new recycled polyamide with Italian partner
Evonik is launching a recycled version of its TROGAMID material, which is used in sunglass lenses among other applications, in partnership with Poliplastic, an Italian-based supplier of specialty polyamides. The recycling loop for the new material, TROGAMID R, starts with the collection of scrap-production shards from manufacturers of optical non-prescription ...
-
ArticleItaly’s eyewear sector ramps up export promotion efforts
Italy’s eyewear industry has ramped up efforts to promote its products overseas, as tariffs, geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty bite, but new markets also provide opportunities. “Internationalization has always been a priority, but we understood that it was time to push more in the current situation,” Davide Degl’Incerti Tocci, the ...
-
Sponsored articleDigital infrastructure as a growth lever: NEOX-IT group brings integrated solutions to MIDO 2026
At MIDO 2026 in Milan, the NEOX-IT Group will present a coordinated technology stack designed to simplify digital complexity for retailers, suppliers and manufacturers.
-
ArticleMeta and Essilux reported AI glasses capacity doubling no easy task
Meta and EssilorLuxottica are discussing boosting their Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses annual production capacity to 20-30 million units to address growing demand, Bloomberg reported yesterday. The leak came from people familiar with the matter who asked to remain anonymous, which may also mean that it is a deliberate communication strategy ...
-
News briefs
Arkema new Singapore plant comes online
Arkema’s new transparent polyamide factory in Singapore is now fully operational, the French-based specialty materials group has announced. The company stressed that the $20 million investment first announced in July last year will triple its production capacity for Rilsan Clear, a material used across different sectors including eyewear, AR/VR and ...
-
ArticleMeta pauses international Ray-Ban Display launch amid AR supply-chain crunch
Meta has postponed the international launch of its Ray-Ban Display AR glasses, citing overwhelming US demand and waitlists extending into 2026. The delay highlights critical supply chain bottlenecks in waveguide production and memory chips, as the smart eyewear market reaches a tipping point for consumer adoption.
-
ArticleItalian eyewear exports slip 3% in first eight months as US struggles, other markets improve
The value of Italian eyewear exports in the first eight months of 2025 fell by3.4 percent to €3,519 million as sales in the US continued to suffer in the wake of tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump earlier this year but markets in Europe and elsewhere showed signs of ...
-
News briefs
HOYA joins independent RX order management platform in the US
HOYA Vision Care’s US subsidiary has announced that it was joining SpecCheck, an RX order management platform connecting lens laboratories with eye care professionals (ECPs) in the country. HOYA is the first lab network to join the service. The company stressed that it was “committed to helping eye care professionals ...
