All Eyewear Intelligence articles in Volume 14, Issue 6-7
View all stories from this issue.
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Article
Ocuco questions Seiko invention
Ocuco, the Irish-based software company that took over Gerber Coburn's Innovations Lab software six years ago, has asked the U.S. Patent Office to re-examine a patent registered by Seiko Epson (No. 6,019,470), which claims to have invented back-surface progressive lenses. The patent was issued in February 2000.The request for re-examination ...
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Article
Spy keeps improving
Spy Optic continued to improve its results in the first quarter ended last March 31. Its net losses were reduced to $721,000 in the period from $2,608,000 in the same quarter a year ago, while sales increased by 10.6 percent to $9,008,000. However, the company's sales outside North America were ...
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Article
Lower profits for Hal’s optical retail segment
GrandVision and other optical retail companies owned by Hal booked a 4.1 percent increase in revenues to €610 million in the first quarter of 2013, as compared to the same period a year ago, but excluding currency exchange variations and a €27 million boost from acquisitions, their sales declined by ...
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Article
Italia Independent plans to go public
This relatively young company is going against the trend in the eyewear sector deciding to float on the Milan's Alternative Investment Market (AIM). Like its London equivalent, the Italian AIM enables small and medium enterprises to get listed on the Italian stock exchange with a simplified procedure. Italia Independent's decision ...
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Article
Modo does well with recycled glasses
With 900,000 pairs sold since the full launch of this project two years ago, after some technical adjustments, Modo Eyewear's ecological line has come to represent one-third of the American company's turnover in Europe and one-quarter in the U.S. Under this campaign, consumers are told that Modo will plant a ...
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News briefs
Mister Spex, a leading German online retailer, received an investment...
Mister Spex, a leading German online retailer, received an investment of over €16 million at the end of a third funding round in May this year. The main investor is a new shareholder, the Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) investment fund, but the initial investors, DN Capital and Xange, participated in ...
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Article
Are French opticians overcharging?
A fierce debate has started in France about the prices charged by opticians after a series of statements made by Marc Simoncini, who launched an e-commerce operation in the sector a couple of years ago, called Sensee. Simoncini, who is very well known in France as the founder of Meetic, ...
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Article
Safilo’s financial outlook improves
Safilo was on the brink of bankruptcy about three years ago, but the Italian company has seen a dramatic improvement in its financial situation under the stewardship of its chief executive, Roberto Vedovotto, and thanks to the arrival of a new key shareholder, the Dutch Hal group.On May 24, Moody's ...
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News briefs
Safilo, the large Italian manufacturer of eyewear and marketer of its...
Safilo, the large Italian manufacturer of eyewear and marketer of its own Carrera and Smith sports brands, appointed Stefan Schmaus as key account manager at its German subsidiary in Cologne. He will be responsible for the management of all key accounts in Germany and Austria. The 38-year old business economist worked previously ...
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News briefs
Okia reports on a further step in the development of...
Okia reports on a further step in the development of its patented HAD technology, which allows the creation of lifelike patterns in any colors on acetate frames. Its high-definition technology can now be applied to both sides of the temple. Okia's bold, new collection based on this technique is called ...
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Article
Cutler and Gross opens shop in New York
Cutler and Gross has opened its first U.S. store and showroom in New York, joining the six other stores that the British producer of luxury heritage eyewear has in London, Hong Kong and Teheran. The eighth stores will open shortly in the British city of Bath.Located at 110 Mercer Street ...
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Article
First European consumer study gives new insights
Some striking consumption patterns have emerged across Europe from the first of a series of quarterly consumer surveys conducted by The Vision Council (TVC) in five major European countries, using many of the same criteria that it has adopted for its periodical VisionWatch surveys of the U.S. market, refining the ...
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News briefs
Kenji Ema is set to retire as chief financial officer...
Kenji Ema is set to retire as chief financial officer of Hoya Corporation at this year's general shareholders' meeting, but he will continue to sit on the board of directors. Ema has been on the company\'s board for 20 years.
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News briefs
VSP Vision Care, the largest vision care insurance company in...
VSP Vision Care, the largest vision care insurance company in the U.S., has announced that it will expand its eyecare offerings to the U.K. by forming a company called VSP Neighborhood Eyecare, in line with its previous expansion into Australia and Canada under the same name. Jeremy Chadwick has been ...
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News briefs
Rodenstock has launched a new marketing campaign for end consumers...
Rodenstock has launched a new marketing campaign for end consumers in Germany. In an insert in German lifestyle magazines, Rodenstock presents its collection of sunglasses to about 3.5 million advertising contacts. The participating opticians in Germany are also listed in the insert. Additionally, a billboard campaign advertises the company's collection ...
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Article
Essilor will license the Polaroid brand
Essilor International plans to introduce a new line of corrective polarized sun lenses at the end of this year for the mainstream sunglass market, making it gradually available through its laboratories around the world. Carrying the well-known Polaroid brand name, it will be positioned below its existing premium line of ...
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News briefs
Bollé has extended its partnership deal with Tony Parker for...
Bollé has extended its partnership deal with Tony Parker for three more years. Bushnell's sunglasses brand had used the French NBA star as an ambassador since 2003. Born 31 years ago, Parker has been playing for the San Antonio Spurs since 2011.
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News briefs
Birmingham Optical has extended its distribution contract with Nidek for...
Birmingham Optical has extended its distribution contract with Nidek for the U.K. Motoki Ozawa, president of Nidek, visited Optrafair show in Birmingham for the first time in April to sign the new contract with Christopher Tyler, chief executive of the British firm, which has been representing the Japanese company for ...
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News briefs
In the U.K. optical sector, the gap between companies making...
In the U.K. optical sector, the gap between companies making profits and those losing money has been widening. Plimsoll, a U.K.-based business intelligence firm providing a range of industry reports, analyzed data from the country's top 735 opticians and found that 304 had recorded losses while 33 had made record ...
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News briefs
Patrice Pineau has been promoted to managing director of Hoya...
Patrice Pineau has been promoted to managing director of Hoya France. He joined the French subsidiary in 2004 as commercial director. For the past three years, he acted as deputy general manager, working under Hans Werquin, president of Hoya Vision Care Europe. Pineau's stated goal is to attain a 15 ...
