All Eyewear Intelligence articles in Volume 26 No. 9+10
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Optik Hallmann has a new managing director
Optik Hallmann, a retail chain of the Michael Pachleitner Group (MPG), has appointed Tobias Andersen as its new Managing Director. Andersen joins the company from Pawlik Consultants, a management consultancy. His prior experiences in the eyewear retail sector include management positions at Fielmann, eyes + more and Optiker Bode. Optik ...
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Zyloware announces initiatives to mitigate US tariffs impact
Zyloware, an established US eyewear vendor with over 100 years of business history, has announced on its corporate blog several initiatives aimed at mitigating the impact of the US reciprocal tariffs announced by President Donald Trump last month. The company’s main measures include the diversification of its manufacturing footprint by ...
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SightGlass Vision announces new clinical research results
SightGlass Vision, a joint venture between EssilorLuxottica and CooperVision, is presenting new clinical research related to its Diffusion Optics Technology (DOT) at the annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) currently taking place in Salt Lake City, Utah. SightGlass Vision says that a recent study ...
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Topcon Healthcare acquires retinal AI imaging company
Topcon Healthcare has announced the acquisition of RetinSight, an Austrian-based company specializing in retinal AI imaging software. Topcon stressed that the move would further enhance Healthcare from the Eye, its AI-powered disease detection and management platform. Founded in 2020, RetinSight has its origin in research of the Medical University of ...
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PDF NewsletterEyewear Intelligence: Vol 26 - No 9+10
EssilorLuxottica to turn eyewear into a service and frames into ‘real estate,’ shareholders ear | EssilorLuxottica adds price hikes to US tariffs mitigation arsenal, reports strong Q1 performance | Amazon-backed autofocus glasses startup raises $36m, aims for distribution in the ECP channel | PPG Optical grows with legacy products and innovations, looks for more sustainable processes | HOYA reports positive Q4 results, discusses general strategy, US tariffs | Zeiss tests e-commerce model with partner ECPs in India | Fielmann Group share price jumps on strong Q1 and FY2025 outlook | Kering Eyewear revenue growth slows down to 2% in Q1 | Kering Eyewear builds up in-house supply chain in Belluno | The Vision Council highlights change in US customs tactics, analyzes supply chain scenarios | Eyewear stocks down by 2% in Q1, and by 10% since April 2 | US tariffs turnaround brings the sector some relief but raises questions on spillover effects, ‘de-risking’ policies | US administration focus on transshipments calls for higher vigilance on goods’ country of origin | How will US consumers react to higher eyewear price tags? | Mixed feelings in Fukui over “Made in Japan” eyewear amid export surge | Aiming for critical mass, Groupe Héron plans to almost double sales by 2030 | European market softness weighs on Inspecs FY2024 results | Menrad Germany files for insolvency | Conant Optical revenue and profit up sharply in 2024 on volume and price mix effects | A high-end complement to the Ray-Ban Meta? | Google and Samsung to release their own smart glasses and platform | Antitrust suit threatens Meta’s revenues, perhaps R&D | Debate on eyeglasses reimbursements heats up again in France | UK parents confused over children’s eye care, survey says | iVision Tech sales jump amid M&A
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ArticleEssilorLuxottica to turn eyewear into a service platform and frames into ‘wearables real estate,’ shareholders hear
In the company’s annual shareholders meeting, Chairman and CEO Francisco Milleri detailed how Essilux is progressively shifting from a hardware-oriented to a service-oriented business centered on AI and medtech. More acquisitions in the AI, chips design and eye surgery sectors are into the group’s deals pipe for 2025 and 2026. The company is taking a cautious approach to US tariffs supply chain adjustments.
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News briefsZeiss to release AI research platform
“The future of healthcare is in the data,” says Euan S. Thomson, head of the Digital Business Unit at Zeiss Medical Technology. In line with this belief, the German firm has collaborated with the pharmaceuticals multinational Boehringer Ingelheim to create the Zeiss Research Data Platform (Zeiss RDP). Source: ...
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ArticleHOYA reports positive Q4 results, discusses general strategy, US tariffs
The group’s eyeglass lens and contact lens sales were up by 5 percent in Q4 and by 4 percent in the full year compared to fiscal 2023-24. The Life Care’s segment profitability improved significantly in Q4 after it dipped in previous quarters as the company prioritized sales recovery following the severe IT incident at the start of the fiscal year.
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Bausch + Lomb Q1 contact lens sales inch up 3%
Bausch + Lomb said it generated contact lens sales of $236 million in the first quarter of 2025, up by a reported three percent compared to the year earlier and five percent higher at constant currency rates, with growth led by its daily disposable silicone hydrogel and ULTRA monthly contact ...
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ArticleFielmann Group share price jumps on strong Q1 and FY2025 outlook
It was a busy trading day on the eve of May Day at the Frankfurt stock exchange for Fielmann Group shares, whose price jumped by 13 percent on the previous day, while trading volumes, which had been hovering at around 40,000 shares in the previous days jumped six-fold to 264,000. ...
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News briefs
Alex Wilkes to succeed Reade Fahs as National Vision CEO
National Vision has announced that Alex Wilkes, currently serving as the company’s President, will take over the CEO position from Reade Fahs who has been at the helm of the US optical retail group since 2002. Wilkes, an experienced eyewear industry executive, joined the company in August last year from ...
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Vuzix acquires waveguide R&D facility in Silicon Valley
Vuzix has announced the acquisition of an advanced waveguide R&D center in the Silicon Valley. The smart glasses company said that the facility was previously operated by “a global technology leader known for its extensive work in software,” without disclosing that company’s name. Vuzix stressed that the acquired unit featured ...
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ArticleAmazon-backed autofocus glasses startup raises $36m, aims for distribution in the ECP channel
The raised capital will enable IXI to continue its product development and to kickoff its commercial operations. The strategy is to distribute primarily through the optical retail channel. The company is looking to disrupt the market with its technology aimed at replacing progressive lenses.
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News briefs
Safilo pursues share buy-back program with future investments in mind
Along with the approval by its shareholders of its financial statements as of Dec. 31, 2024, Safilo Group has announced that the shareholders of its Safilo SpA subsidiary have authorized the purchase and disposal of up to 15 million ordinary shares, corresponding to approximately 3.6 percent of the company’s outstanding ...
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VSP Vision launches second eye care experience innovation challenge
VSP Vision has announced the launch of the second edition of its Innovation Challenge, in partnership with MATTER, a Chicago-based healthcare and innovation hub. The competition is aimed at global companies innovating with new technologies to enhance patients’ eye care experience. They have until June 8, 2025 to send their ...
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Topcon Healthcare appoints new Chief Medical Officer
Topcon Healthcare has appointed Dr. Daniela Ferrara as Chief Medical Officer. She will lead Topcon Healthcare’s clinical and medical strategy, notably the development of Healthcare from the Eye, the AI-powered platform using ocular imaging and data to detect eye care and systemic diseases that the company launched last year. Ferrara ...
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Abióptica trade show attendance up 14%
Organizers of Abióptica, the Brazilian eyewear trade show, have announced that 22,000 visitors, or 14 percent more than in the previous year, have taken part in the last edition of the trade show that took place in São Paulo from last April 9 to 12. They added that the tally ...
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ArticleGoogle and Samsung to release their own smart glasses and platform
Shahram Izadi, Vice President and General Manager of Android XR, introduced Google’s most recent move in smart eyewear at TED earlier this month. Readers might recall the demise, two years ago, of a previous endeavor – Google Glass. Google has been working with Samsung and Qualcomm to develop both a ...
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ArticleDebate on eyeglasses reimbursements heats up again in France
The federation of private health insurances wants to extend their clients’ refund period rights for eyeglass purchases from two to three years. The French opticians association has expressed strong reserves.
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ArticleKering Eyewear revenue growth slows down to 2% in Q1
Kering Eyewear was again a rare bright spot in the results presented earlier this week by French luxury group Kering for the first quarter of 2025. The eyewear unit’s sales were up by 3 percent year-on-year to €476 million or by 2 percent on a comparable basis. However, this marks ...
