All Eyewear Intelligence articles in Volume 14, Issue 4
View all stories from this issue.
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News briefs
Specsavers in the U.K. has teamed up with Lulu to...
Specsavers in the U.K. has teamed up with Lulu to launch a new collection of frames for women aged 50 and over. The Scottish singer and actress, who is 64 years old and has worn glasses for the past 15 years, is best known internationally for the title song to the James ...
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News briefs
There was a lot of unconfirmed speculation at the Vision...
There was a lot of unconfirmed speculation at the Vision Expo show in New York last month about some of Essilor's next moves. Executives of Shamir declined to comment on a rumor that Essilor would integrate the sales functions of some of its national subsidiaries in various European countries into ...
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News briefs
Rodenstock, which did not participate in the latest Silmo and...
Rodenstock, which did not participate in the latest Silmo and Mido shows, reports on a successful presentation of its “System for Better Vision at the Shanghai International Optics Fair at the end of March, resulting in numerous orders for its spectacles in one of the German company's key development markets. ...
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Article
S&P sees Luxottica's outlook improving
Luxottica has announced that Standard & Poor's changed its outlook on the group from stable to positive on March 27. At the same time, the rating agency affirmed its “BBB+/A-2” long- and short-term corporate credit ratings for the group.Standard & Poor's said that the change in outlook follows another year of strong ...
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Article
Spy launches a “Happy Lens” while results improve
With many companies introducing “blue light” features in their lenses these days, this American producer of sunglasses and sports eyewear got a lot interest at the recent Vision Expo show in New York around a new patent-pending lens which, it claims, makes the wearer feel good because its filters let ...
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News briefs
Rudy Project will be the title sponsor of the first...
Rudy Project will be the title sponsor of the first Relay Marathon, which will take place next July 21 at Volpago del Montello, in Northern Italy, as part of the Marathon World Championships for mountain biking, which has been renamed “Le Terre Rosse” (red earths). One hundred teams are expected ...
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News briefs
Liz Tontodanati has joined Modo Eyewear in the new position...
Liz Tontodanati has joined Modo Eyewear in the new position of vice president of marketing and licensed brands, after working in management positions at Carrera, Marcolin and Viva International. Reporting to Pierre Fey, chief executive of Modo for North America, she will the company's marketing efforts in the U.S. and ...
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News briefs
Eyewear will have its place for the first time at...
Eyewear will have its place for the first time at the Tortona Design Week, a series of consumer-oriented events held in Milan during the big annual International Furniture Fair. Fifteen Italian and foreign eyewear producers including Alain Mikli, Charmant, Oliver Peoples, Silhouette, The Quiet Before (see the related article on ...
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Article
The European market is stable
The European optical retail market was largely stable last year, according to GfK. The market research company estimates that it declined by only 0.2 percent to around €12 billion in 2012. Sales of spectacle lenses grew by 0.5 percent in terms of value, and contact lenses and related products went ...
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Article
Rebound in Safilo’s European sales, thanks to Polaroid
Safilo's European sales rose by 26.2 percent to €128.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2012, with a 24.7 percent increase in local currencies, thanks to organic growth as well as the new Polaroid house brand, which contributed to more than 50 percent of the increase. Polaroid Eyewear was bought ...
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Article
Essilor launches the Vision Impact Institute
Essilor has announced the establishment of the Vision Impact Institute, an organization dedicated to studying the socioeconomic aspects related to vision issues. The institute will work to raise awareness among opinion leaders, public organizations and eyesight professionals about the socioeconomic consequences of impaired vision and the solutions that could be deployed. It ...
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News briefs
The recent edition of the Mido trade show recorded a...
The recent edition of the Mido trade show recorded a 3 percent increase to about 43,000 in the total number of visitors as compared to one year ago. There was growth in the number of Italian and foreign visitors, but the latter represented 60 percent of the total attendance, up ...
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Article
Safilens cures dry eye syndrome
After three years of research, Safilens has found the technical solution to eliminate problems such as dry eye syndrome for users of monthly contact lenses. The company showcased Open 30 at the last two eyewear shows in Munich and Milan. The product consists of a lens made of silicon ...
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News briefs
Coopervision has hired Debbie Olive as vice president of marketing...
Coopervision has hired Debbie Olive as vice president of marketing for Europe, along with Dimple Shah as the new professional affairs and relations consultant, with immediate effect. Olive replaces Michael Wilkinson, who has taken up the role of general manager for a new operational region that includes India, Pakistan, the ...
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Article
Google and Sony compete on smart eyeglasses
Google has confirmed that there will be a prescription solution for its soon-to-be-released Google Glass, the new product whose “enhanced reality” features are being revealed bit by bit, generating massive publicity around it. According to Google, the modular design of Google Glass will allow wearers to add frames and lenses ...
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Article
Coastal raises equity
Coastal Contacts, the Canadian-based online retailer of contact lenses and prescription frames, has closed a public offering of three million shares, as well as the partial exercise of an over-allotment option, allowing the company to raise gross proceeds of $20,682,600. It had initially targeted a minimum of $18 million.The company ...
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News briefs
Charmant shut down its Spanish subsidiary at the end of...
Charmant shut down its Spanish subsidiary at the end of last year because of its insufficient turnover, and it is looking for a distributor there before taking on new orders. Meanwhile, Rolf Sieglen, who has been working for Charmant Europe in Germany since 1996, has been promoted sales manager for ...
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News briefs
César Melo is the new chief executive of FGX International,...
César Melo is the new chief executive of FGX International, a subsidiary of Essilor International that designs and markets eyewear. He was previously the vice president for marketing at Colgate-Palmolive, a large consumer products company where he spent the last 23 years. He succeeds Alec Taylor, who is retiring after ...
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News briefs
Carl Zeiss Vision has made a major investment in its...
Carl Zeiss Vision has made a major investment in its prescription glazing facility in the U.K., installing a new MEI Bisphera all-in-one edger with automatic lens verification and blocking to speed up the process and ensure more accurate and consistent results. Separately, Carl Zeiss has temporarily shut down its museum ...
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News briefs
Thai Optical Group came unscathed last year from the floods...
Thai Optical Group came unscathed last year from the floods that paralized its facilities for a short while at the end of 2011, but company officials indicate that it has been struggling lately against low-cost casters in China and other parts of Asia. The company's revenues grew to a total ...
