All Eyewear Intelligence articles in Volume 21 No. 18+19 – Page 2

  • News briefs

    French economy risks “collapse” with new lockdown

    2020-10-27T16:22:00Z

    A new total or partial Covid-19-related lockdown could lead to a “collapse” of the French economy, according to the Confederation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (CPME). CPME warned that companies are currently “much weaker” than in March, when the government introduced a lockdown, and many, especially the smaller ones, would ...

  • TheOceanCleanup_Sunglasses_HiRes-5_1-scaled
    News briefs

    Safilo produces recycled sunglasses for The Ocean Cleanup

    2020-10-27T08:11:00Z

    Safilo announced the release of the first sunglasses made for The Ocean Cleanup, a Dutch non-profit environmental organization that develops advanced technologies to extract plastic pollution from the oceans. The Ocean Cleanup sunglasses are made of injected plastic deriving from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP). They are available in ...

  • Mondottica
    Article

    Change of ownership at Mondottica International

    2020-10-26T09:34:00Z

    The Hong Kong-based Mondottica International has changed ownership and is now controlled by a consortium comprising Capital Eyes Holding, Ross Holdings and Ferdinand Menrad. No financial details were released, but the tran partnersaction includes a substantial capital injection. Capital Eyes Holding is an Asia-based investment company involved in eyewear manufacturing, ...

  • News briefs

    WhatsApp to add in-app purchases, enterprise message hosting

    2020-10-25T18:10:00Z

    Facebook will soon be adding in-app purchases and enterprise message hosting to WhatsApp. Companies will be able to use Facebook Shops – the e-commerce platform that made its debut in May and feeds into all Facebook apps – to sell products through the messaging app. Companies will also be able ...

  • News briefs

    Blenders launches winter collection

    2020-10-23T12:24:00Z

    Safilo’s unit Blenders Eyewear of San Diego, California, has launched its winter collection, called Snow 2021, with new goggles and the company’s first accessories and helmets. There are 26 goggle models, 13 each in two collections called Aura and Nebula. All have been designed in consultation with Blenders athletes, among ...

  • Russian Post
    News briefs

    Russian Post launches bonded warehouse pilot project

    2020-10-22T05:21:00Z

    The Russian state mail operator Russian Post announced a pilot project to set up bonded warehouses, where goods liable to customs can be stored and handled without payment of duty. In the future, these warehouses could manage half of all sales of foreign online stores present in the country, the ...

  • News briefs

    Marcolin puts out high-tech Adidas snow goggles

    2020-10-21T16:32:00Z

    As the new licensee for Adidas eyewear, the Marcolin Group has announced the availability of two Adidas Terrex Snow Goggle models, each with a different lens and both made in Italy. The E-SUNTM VARIATM lens on the SP0039 has a toric shape and adjusts in less than 40 seconds to ...

  • Hoya
    Article

    New CEO and brand positioning for Hoya Vision Care

    2020-10-21T10:10:00Z

    Hoya has announced the appointment of Alexandre Montague as the new CEO of Hoya Vision Care, the lens division of the Japanese group. The French eyewear industry veteran started in this position in August, after spending six months at the helm of Hoya Eye Care, the company managing the contact ...

  • News briefs

    Maui Jim wins a Travel Retail Award for sunglasses

    2020-10-21T10:06:00Z

    Maui Jim has won the Travel Retail Award in the Sunglasses/Eyewear category for its Hikina sunglasses, whose scratch-resistant MauiPure LT lenses are, according to Maui’s press release, “27 percent thinner” – presumably than standard sunglass lenses. This is the third edition of the awards, which are organized by TRBusiness, a ...

  • shopping center
    Article

    Contrasting consumer sentiment across Europe

    2020-10-20T17:09:00Z

    The second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic is beginning to stifle the previously expected recovery of the European economy, particularly for the consumption of non-essential products and services. Fortunately, it has not yet led to the retail lockdowns of the first wave in the spring – except in Wales and ...

  • British flag
    Article

    U.K. government under pressure over move to scrap tax-free shopping

    2020-10-20T15:57:00Z

    The British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak is under mounting pressure from major retailers to reverse his decision to abolish duty-free shopping next year which they claim will lead to significant job losses. Leading U.K. fashion and luxury brands, including Paul Smith, Ted Baker, The White Company and Superdry, have warned ...

  • YouTube logo
    News briefs

    YouTube is testing shopping features

    2020-10-19T16:49:00Z

    Google is testing the idea of turning YouTube into an e-commerce platform, according to a Bloomberg report. YouTube is currently testing through a limited number of channels the option to buy items that feature in videos. The ”goal is to convert YouTube’s bounty of videos into a vast catalog of ...

  • News briefs

    Bollé’s new lenses have computer-designed pigments

    2020-10-19T16:42:00Z

    Bollé’s new lens, the Volt +, heightens contrast and color to improve depth perception. Technicians at Bollé’s R&D laboratory, called Epic and located in the French city of Lyon, used computers to sort through some 20 million light-wavelength combinations, fine-tuning the lens’s pigments to produce the proper transition curve. The ...

  • Marchon
    Article

    Marchon to use Eastman’s sustainable acetate

    2020-10-19T05:43:00Z

    Marchon announced that it will be the first eyewear company to produce frames using Acetate Renew, a sustainable material produced by the American specialty chemical company Eastman. Unlike other sustainable alternatives, Acetate Renew is indistinguishable from classic acetate, according to Marchon. It plans to start producing acetate sunglasses and ophthalmic ...

  • Kenmark Eyewear
    News briefs

    Kenmark names new VPs for product design, marketing

    2020-10-19T05:02:00Z

    Kenmark Eyewear has appointed Jason Wehlage as vice president of product and design. He began his career with the U.S. company in 2001 as a design assistant and has held roles as product designer and director of product design. In his new role, Wehlage will oversee the design of the ...

  • Acuvue J&J
    News briefs

    Johnson & Johnson's Q3 contact lens sales turn positive in U.S.

    2020-10-18T11:04:00Z

    Johnson & Johnson’s global sales of contact lenses fell by 7.1 percent year-on-year in the third quarter to $830 million. At constant currency rates, revenues fell by 7.2 percent as sales of contact lenses continued to be negatively impacted the Covid-19 pandemic. But, sales in the U.S. grew partially driven ...

  • Brexit 2
    Article

    U.K. threatens no-deal Brexit but talks to continue

    2020-10-18T06:59:00Z

    Tensions on stalled Brexit trade talks intensified as Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister, said Britons should prepare for a no-deal departure if the European Union (EU) did not compromise, raising the prospect of supply chain chaos across Europe. Johnson stopped short of saying he was walking away from the ...

  • Synsam logo
    Article

    Synsam builds new plant as it moves production to Sweden

    2020-10-16T10:58:00Z

    Synsam plans to move eyeglass production from Asia to Sweden next year. The project involves the construction from scratch of a new factory that the company claims will focus on sustainable production. The facility is scheduled to be completed in autumn of 2021 in the town of Ockelbo. With an ...

  • Essilor 2
    Article

    Essilor restructures its French sites

    2020-10-15T16:10:00Z

    Essilor, the ophthalmic lens unit of the Franco-Italian group EssilorLuxottica, is grouping four existing French sites into a new laboratory that will be located in the Paris region. From the end of 2023, the company will transfer the ophthalmic lens business of the sites of Antony, Vaulx-en-Velin and le Mans ...

  • Renewable Carbon Initiative
    Article

    Eleven companies launch the Renewable Carbon Initiative

    2020-10-14T16:21:00Z

    Eleven companies from six countries have joined forces to launch the Renewable Carbon Initiative (RCI). The initiative, under the leadership of German research institute nova-Institute, aims to phase out the use of fossil fuels for all organic chemicals and materials by 2050 to enable chemicals, plastics and other organic materials ...