All Eyewear Intelligence articles in Volume 14, Issue 5
View all stories from this issue.
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Article
Optrafair teams up with Optician for London
The British Optrafair show in Birmingham reported a total of 6,600 registered visitors, down slightly from 6,647, but many of the 200-plus exhibitors praise the high quality of the attendees. An industry stalwart, Frank Norville, said his company experienced the best Saturday in the 42 years that it has been ...
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News briefs
Wearlite, a Swiss lens manufacturer, won this year's Swiss Innovation...
Wearlite, a Swiss lens manufacturer, won this year's Swiss Innovation Prize, awarded by Idee-Suisse, a non-profit organization for the promotion of innovation and the management of innovative concepts. Idee-Suisse said it was rewarding Wearlite's sustainable technologies for the manufacture of lenses. They are made with energy-efficient and environmentally friendly processes ...
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News briefs
PPG Industries' optical and specialty materials segment saw its sales...
PPG Industries' optical and specialty materials segment saw its sales drop by 6 percent to $314 million in the first quarter of this year, reflecting a return to a more traditional seasonal sales pattern and somewhat lower consumption in the U.S. PPG noted that the first quarter of 2012 had ...
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Article
Vuarnet sunglasses are set for strong growth
Vuarnet Sunglasses, which has remained the property of Neo Capital after the London-based investment fund sold its 47 percent stake in Alain Mikli International to Luxottica at the beginning of this year, is targeting sales of about €20 million five years from now, as compared the €5 million level reached ...
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News briefs
PPG Industries has promoted John Liebenguth to general manager of optical materials,...
PPG Industries has promoted John Liebenguth to general manager of optical materials, with immediate effect. In his new role, he succeeds Christine Camsuzou, who has been promoted to the new position of general manager of consumer electronics, which is a growing part of PPG's larger industrial-coatings business. Liebenguth will be responsible for optical monomers, coatings, ...
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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 earth). One hundred teams are expected ...
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Article
Fielmann is looking for steady progress
Fielmann says it has sold more than 120 million pairs of glasses since it opened its first store 40 years ago. The company reckons that 23 million people are wearing Fielmann glasses now and that 90 percent of them intended to buy their next pair from one of its stores. ...
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News briefs
Silhouette is launching Faces of Litestyle, a new project for...
Silhouette is launching Faces of Litestyle, a new project for 2013 that will tell stories about people who are icons of quality and lightness, the brand's symbols, in their own way. The first people chosen for the project are Benedetta Barzini, an Italian actress who was a notable fashion model ...
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Article
Lots of marketing by Oakley in Europe
Oakley has unveiled a Europe-wide integrated campaign featuring three motorsport icons: Fernando Alonso, the Spanish Formula 1 world champion, Valentino Rossi, one of the most successful motorcycle racers of all times, and Sébastien Loeb, the French rally legend. They will be featured in the company's new “Change Perspective” campaign, which ...
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News briefs
The German Federal Ministry responsible for families, elder people, women...
The German Federal Ministry responsible for families, elder people, women and young people has granted the so-called “Logib-D” award to Uvex, the manufacturer of sports helmets and goggles. The seal of quality is given by the ministry for successful efforts to create gender equality in salaries. Uvex accepted the ministry's ...
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Article
Some new figures from the German-speaking countries
At its annual press conference, the German opticians' association, ZVA, reported that about 11.3 million pairs of complete glasses were sold in Germany in 2012, 2 percent more than in 2011, and a further six million existing frames were fitted with new lenses. The figures are better than the preliminary data that ...
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News briefs
A.T. Cross continued to grow in the first quarter of...
A.T. Cross continued to grow in the first quarter of 2013, with sales up by 5.9 percent to $44.4 million compared with the first quarter of 2012. This was driven by a 9.1 percent increase to $23.8 million for its Cross Optical Group (COG), which runs the Costa and Native ...
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News briefs
Vision Express of the U.K. posted a second consecutive year of...
Vision Express of the U.K. posted a second consecutive year of growth in sales and profit for 2012. Operating income increased by 6 percent to £16.4 million (€19.4m-$25.5m) across its 327 owned and joint-venture stores in the U.K. and Ireland, attributed to modest sales growth on a same-store basis and tight ...
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News briefs
Okia has launched an original collection of eyewear that uses its...
Okia has launched an original collection of eyewear that uses its patented HDA Technology in combination with a special “BMT” technique. High Definition Acetate (HDA) is a patented technology allowing the transformation of textures and colors into crisper and more realistic colors, including 3D effects and textures, on acetate sheets. Thanks ...
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News briefs
Coastal Contacts has opened its first production and distribution facility...
Coastal Contacts has opened its first production and distribution facility in the U.S., which has become the fastest-growing market for the Vancouver-based online retailer of contact lenses and eyeglasses. The investment is expected to accelerate the company's growth in the U.S. The facility, whose location was not given, is starting ...
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News briefs
Topcon is now taking care of the distribution of its...
Topcon is now taking care of the distribution of its products in Austria directly from Germany. Since April 1, all of the company's business in Austria, including distribution, service and administration, is managed by Topcon Germany. The contract with the previous Austrian distributor ended on March 31. The company aims ...
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News briefs
Google Ventures, the venture capital fund of the internet giant,...
Google Ventures, the venture capital fund of the internet giant, has announced the creation of an investment syndicate, called the Glass Collective, together with two venture capital firms, Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The group will provide funding and support to the entrepreneurs who will develop apps ...
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News briefs
Rodenstock is launching a campaign for greater brand recognition at...
Rodenstock is launching a campaign for greater brand recognition at the point of sale (POS) featuring a display window competition. The Munich-based eyewear company is offering to opticians around the world standardized advertising materials to develop a clearly structured and consistent POS marketing strategy and facilitate brand recognition. A competition ...
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News briefs
Sauflon has promoted Sue Cockayne to its board of directors,...
Sauflon has promoted Sue Cockayne to its board of directors, making her professional services director. The optometrist joined Sauflon in 2011, after working for Leightons Opticians as professional services director and then, from 2008, as managing director. At Sauflon, she has been instrumental in the successful launch of the Clariti 1-day toric ...
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News briefs
Luxottica launched a new buying program at Optrafair in Birmingham called...
Luxottica launched a new buying program at Optrafair in Birmingham called Luxboutique, exclusively for independent retailers. The program offers practitioners the opportunity to stock upto four of the manufacturer's “niche luxury” brands, namely Persol, Burberry, Miu Miu and Tiffany & Co., in a selection of frames that Luxottica has chosen for ...
