All Eyewear Intelligence articles in Volume 27 No. 7 – Page 2
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News briefs
Meta reportedly rolls out and then rolls back facial recognition code to AI glasses app
Wired, a technology news website, reported on June 4, 2026, that Meta had “quietly” embedded facial recognition code—internally called “NameTag”—into its Meta AI companion app, which is essential for Ray-Ban and Oakley smart glasses to function. However, the code was not activated making it impossible to turn on the function. ...
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News briefs
Jimei reports flat sales, declining margins
Jimei New Material, the Shenzhen-based acetate sheet supplier for the eyewear industry, reported fiscal 2025 revenue of RMB 304.9 million (€39 million), up 0.9 percent year on year. Profitability weakened, with gross margin down 3 percentage points to 35.1 percent on higher manufacturing costs. Operating margin fell to 22.7 percent ...
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News briefs
Menicon advances in simulation-driven lens research, contact lens packaging
Menicon has announced the completion of SilicoSim, a digital simulation platform for contact lens material design that was developed with the Tohoku University. The collaboration is the first result of the Miru Mirai (literally “see the future”) partnership initiated in 2024. Utilizing transmission electron microscopy (TEM), the researchers have revealed ...
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ArticleJapan Eyewear Holdings reports strong Q1 revenue and margin expansion
Japan Eyewear Holdings (JEH), the group operating the Kaneko Optical and 999.9 retail chains, reported a 15.8 percent year-on-year increase in Q1 revenue to ¥4,854 million (€26m). This performance marks a slight acceleration from the previous quarter (+14.2 percent), despite a sharp decline in sales to Chinese customers at its ...
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ArticleBrazilian eyewear market: 4.5% growth in 2025 reveals mixed picture
The Brazilian optical retail market value rose by 4.5 percent year over year to 28.1 billion reals (€4.8bn), according to the annual report of Abióptica, the Brazilian eyewear industry association. While the sector expanded approximately twice as fast as the country’s GDP, growth was lower than initially expected (5-7 percent). ...
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News briefs
Johnson & Johnson Vision to invest over $1 bn in Florida facility
Johnson & Johnson has announced a major investment exceeding $1 billion in its primary contact lenses industrial site located in Jacksonville, Florida, where the group currently employs 3,500 workers. The substantial investment includes construction of a new, state-of-the-art distribution facility, alongside advanced manufacturing and packaging technologies designed to expand capacity ...
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News briefs
Bausch + Lomb reinforces ortho-K portfolio with French lab acquisition
Bausch + Lomb has officially acquired Precilens, a French-based specialty contact lens manufacturer, for an undisclosed amount. This strategic investment aims to strengthen the U.S. group’s portfolio in the orthokeratology and other advanced contact lens segments. Bausch + Lomb states the deal will expand clinical training access, improve service to ...
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News briefs
SILMO launches SILMO Riyadh
SILMO has announced the launch of SILMO Riyadh, a new addition to its portfolio of international eyewear trade shows that already includes annual events in Paris and Istanbul. SILMO has partnered with the Saudi Society of Optometry (SSO) for the new trade fair, whose first edition will take place from ...
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ArticleQualcomm invests $10 million in Inspecs, launches smart eyewear turnkey program
Qualcomm Technologies, the global leader in wireless chipsets for electronics, is investing $10 million in Inspecs, the UK-based eyewear group, announced yesterday. We estimate that the investment, which is being made through the purchase of newly issued ordinary shares, will give Qualcomm a 6–7 percent stake in Inspecs. The proceeds ...
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ArticleEssilux and Applied Materials partner on R&D to tackle the AR glasses display conundrum
EssilorLuxottica has announced a joint development agreement with Applied Materials, a global leader in materials engineering, in the wearable technology domain. The objective of the partnership is “to develop lightweight, high-performance optical systems critical to scalable AR experiences.” While EssilorLuxottica’s R&D programs for this product category have so far been ...
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ArticleSpecsavers annual sales up 9%, led by the UK and Ireland
Specsavers has reported an 8.9 percent year-on-year increase in group revenue to £4,540 million (€5,250m) for its fiscal year ended Feb. 28, 2026, accelerating sharply from the 4.3 percent increase in the previous year. The UK-based group is thus consolidating its position as the second-largest optical retailer in the world, ...
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News briefs
KKR builds up optical portfolio with Investment in FYihealth
Global private equity investor KKR has made a strategic investment in FYihealth, a Canadian-based group founded in 2008 and operating 370 optometry clinics and retail stores across Canada and the US. Financial details were not disclosed for the transaction, which is expected to close in the coming months after regulatory ...
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News briefs
Cutler and Gross partners with Europa Eyewear for distribution in North America
Cutler and Gross, the British independent luxury eyewear brand, is partnering with Europa Eyewear for the exclusive distribution of its collections in the US and Canada. In a rather unusual move, Cutler and Gross’ existing North American sales team will transition with the brand from Marchon, its previous partner, to ...
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News briefs
IF Design 2026 Awards reflect smart eyewear momentum
Reflecting the evolution of our sector, smart glasses take a growing share in the annual IF Design awards, whose 2026 selection has just been announced. Six out of seventeen awards went to smart eyewear brands and manufacturers, with a wide range of smart functionalities from simple electrochromic lenses to now ...
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ArticleTradeoffs and a bet – Snap introduces the hardware for Specs
Snap gave the world a look at its first augmented-reality glasses for the general public, called Specs, on June 16 at the Augmented World Expo (AWE) – the world’s largest trade show for AR. Exhibiting alongside it in Long Beach, California, were Google and XReal, announcing their Project Aura XR ...
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ArticleTVC urges US importers to stay on their toes for new tariffs wave this summer
In an online webinar on June 15, The Vision Council (TVC), the US eyewear industry association, updated its members on the fast-changing and multi-layered issues related to the country’s import duties. While the first part of the discussion focused on advice for importers to navigate the complex refund process for ...
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ArticleRevamp at Essilux owner Delfin hits snag
A plan for Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio to become the largest shareholder in the Del Vecchio family holding company Delfin that controls EssilorLuxottica is up in the air, after banks financing the €10 billion deal sought new guarantees from Delfin itself. Leonardo Maria wrote in an open letter published on ...
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News briefs
Carl Zeiss AG to increase its stake in Carl Zeiss Meditec with €200m investment
Carl Zeiss AG, the holding company of the ZEISS Group, announced yesterday that it will buy additional Carl Zeiss Meditec shares on the stock market for up to €200 million by February 2027, mainly to underline confidence in the subsidiary and its strategy. The group currently holds about 59.1 percent ...
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ArticleMeta puts its own name on its AI glasses
Meta launched its first self-branded AI glasses on Tuesday with EssilorLuxottica as manufacturing partner, a narrower role than the co-branding arrangement behind Ray-Ban Meta. The new line, simply called Meta Glasses, comes in three frame styles (the rectangular Adventurer, the boxier Fury and the Starfire, a slim oval design created ...
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News briefs
Macron strikes again, in eyewear
The French President seems to have a knack for eyewear moments. At Davos in January a burst blood vessel inspired Emmanuel Macron to don a pair of Henry Jullien aviators for a speech that gave the world two viral moments: repeated utterance of an English adverbial phrase, “for sure,” and ...
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