All Eyewear Intelligence articles in Volume 19, Issue 14-15
View all stories from this issue.
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Article
Has the tide turned for Safilo?
On Oct. 29, Safilo's shareholders approved a €150 million rights issue, marking the latest act of a remarkable twist of fate for the troubled group, judging from several positive aspects of the refinancing package. Is the group on the cusp of a revival or just facing another false dawn? The ...
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News briefs
This month, Luxottica is renting Villa Reale in Monza, north...
This month, Luxottica is renting Villa Reale in Monza, north of Milan, for its Luxottica Days, during which the company will display its 2019 collections to buyers. During the period, Villa Reale will be off limits for tourists, including its royal apartments, causing some controversy. But the mayor of Monza, ...
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News briefs
Mister Spex has postponed its initial public offering. Three years...
Mister Spex has postponed its initial public offering. Three years ago, Mister Spex announced that it would go public by the end of this year. Goldman Sachs acquired one-fifth of Mister Spex's shares in January 2015. So far, the German eyewear retailer had collected €80 million from investors and employed ...
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Article
New horizons for Thierry Lasry
Thierry Lasry, the fast-growing French brand of designer eyewear that won a special Silmo d'Or award at the Paris trade show a few weeks ago, has become well known for its original women's sunglasses, which tend to feature straight corners and sharp angles. It is now adding its first line ...
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Article
Hoya reports higher margins
Hoya Corp. booked a 7 percent increase in sales of eyeglass lenses in the second quarter of its financial year, ended on Sept. 30, but they were only up by 3 percent on a comparable basis. Sales of contact lenses went up by 6 percent, but they were still mainly ...
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Article
A good Silmo
The organizers of Silmo have reported a satisfactory level of business at the 52nd edition of the Paris trade show at the end of September. Roughly in line with the scores reached one year ago, it was attended by more than 37,000 professional visitors, 56 percent of whom came from ...
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News briefs
Obe, the German manufacturer of hinges, presented a new innovation...
Obe, the German manufacturer of hinges, presented a new innovation at the Silmo show in Paris, for which it was nominated for a Silmo d'Or. The new so-called Rivet & Bend hinges can bend in all directions. Compared with standard rivet hinges, the new hinges have an integrated inclination in ...
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News briefs
The Tabacchi family has increased its stake in Perini Navi,...
The Tabacchi family has increased its stake in Perini Navi, a major Italian builder of yachts, from 49.99 percent to 75 percent. The Tabacchis were previously shareholders in Safilo and Salmoiraghi & Viganò. Edoardo Tabacchi is currently vice-president of Perini Navi.
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Article
Marble eyewear gets a prize, but…
Morà Busoli won this year's Silmo d'Or in the “Optical Frames: Eyewear Designer” category for its new Venti frames, made of marble and carbon. The Italian company had first shown its line at the Mido show in Milan last year, a few months before another Italian company in the same ...
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News briefs
The German-based eyewear manufacturer Markus T has teamed up with Luneau...
The German-based eyewear manufacturer Markus T has teamed up with Luneau Technology, the company behind the Visionix and Weco brands of diagnostic equipment and eye screening, for a series of lectures and workshops for opticians, which will start this autumn. At the opti show in Munich in January, both companies had a ...
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News briefs
Markus T, the German-based eyewear manufacturer, recorded a single-digit increase...
Markus T, the German-based eyewear manufacturer, recorded a single-digit increase in annual sales in 2017. For 2018, it expects annual sales to increase by 8 percent. Sales in Germany account for 40 percent of total sales, while sales in Asia represent one-third of the company's total. The brand is sold ...
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Article
Quality overrides price in Europe
The quality of lenses is generally a more important factor than their price or brand for consumers in the five major European countries, according to the eighth edition of the Optical Monitor (OMO). Once again commissioned from GfK by the Mido and Silmo trade shows, the survey was based on ...
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Article
Positive sales trends for Essilor
Essilor reported partially positive results for its part of the merged business during the third quarter of this year in the first financial report since its merger with Luxottica. Fueled by good results in Asia, the online business and the Sunglasses & Readers division, the group's global revenues improved by ...
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News briefs
The latest edition of Vision Expo West, which took place...
The latest edition of Vision Expo West, which took place in Las Vegas on Sept- 26-29, was attended by around 13,000 eyecare professionals from all over the world, a figure representing a nearly double-digit growth as compared to 2017. This edition marked the 30th anniversary of the trade-only conference and ...
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Article
Exports, e-commerce and young leaders will be key
The release of the second edition of Mido Outlook, an international survey of the players of the eyewear industry, indicates that exports continue to be a key factor for the industry, for both Italian and foreign companies, with the U.S. emerging as the most attractive market and Italy also in ...
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News briefs
Mykita has launched a special edition for its Mykita/Damir Doma...
Mykita has launched a special edition for its Mykita/Damir Doma line of sunglasses, including two different styles. Limited to 300 pieces per model, the collection is distributed at select opticians and in Mykita's own stores. At this year's Silmo trade show in Berlin, Mykita had a separate stand for each ...
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News briefs
Mike Kirkley, the U.K. managing director of Essilor, has retired...
Mike Kirkley, the U.K. managing director of Essilor, has retired after 35 years of service with the group, and he is being replaced by Tim Precious, who has served most recently as vice president of the group for the Nordic countries. Precious is being succeeded in this post by Sebastian ...
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News briefs
Essilor Sun Solution, the division within Essilor group dedicated to...
Essilor Sun Solution, the division within Essilor group dedicated to plano sun lenses, accompanied the first all-female expedition to reach the summit of Mount Everest. The expedition saw six Nepalese women, led by Kanchhi Maya Tamang, ascend Mount Everest to promote women's empowerment in Nepal and fight against human trafficking. ...
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Article
A tough first half for De Rigo due to a lower Turkish lira
The crumbling of the Turkish lira has had serious consequences for De Rigo Vision, one of whose three optical chains, Opmar Optik, with 75 points of sale, operates in the country. The new monetary crisis that broke out in early August, shaking up the government of Prime Minister Erdogan, has ...
