Italy H1 eyewear exports fall 2.7% as France edges out US as biggest market
The value of Italian eyewear exports fell by 2.7 percent in the first half of 2026 compared to the year earlier to reach €2.705 billion, as France edged out the US as the Italian industry’s largest export market, data from Italian eyewear trade association Anfao showed.
CooperVision opens new global innovation hub, updates on contact lens pipeline
CooperVision officially opened The Vision Centre, its new global innovation hub, in Southampton, England, on Sept. 23, marking the occasion with an update on six major contact lens pipeline advancements it expects to bring to the market in coming years.
Meta and EssilorLuxottica move to occupy every corner of the AI glasses market
Meta Connect 2026 was, by Mark Zuckerberg’s own framing, an event about Muse, the company’s personal AI agent, and the broader reversal it represents: after building glasses on the assumption that the metaverse would arrive first and AI superintelligence later, Meta now puts AI functionality first. For our purposes, though, ...
Topcon leads seed round in Moorfields AI spinout Cascader
Topcon Healthcare has led a seed funding round in Cascader, a London-based start-up applying artificial intelligence (AI) to the detection and management of eye disease. The amount was not disclosed, and no other investors were named.
Essilux upgrades Nuance after a challenging Gen 1 launch, as rivals begin to emerge
EssilorLuxottica has started rolling out Nuance Audio Plus, the next generation of its open-ear hearing glasses for adults with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss, in selected countries, notably France and Spain.
Snap returns to consumers and enters the enterprise market
On Sept. 16 Snap both began selling augmented-reality (AR) glasses to the public for the first time and opened an enterprise sales channel. The consumer glasses, called Specs, cap 11 years of development and five hardware generations, two of them kept off the public market. The move into the enterprise ...
Marcolin-Marchon leadership reshuffle gives VSP Vision’s eyewear business an Italian tilt
Nine months after VSP Vision completed its acquisition of Marcolin, the eyewear group is reshuffling the top management of its combined Marcolin and Marchon operations, the companies announced on September 21. The new structure assigns joint leadership responsibility across both companies’ operations in each key region, which the group said ...
Meta reportedly dropping camera in new AI glasses line: the whys and the why nots
A leak reported by US online media The Information this week suggests Meta is developing a camera-free pair of smart glasses, internally codenamed “Luna,” which could ship as soon as October. Neither Meta nor its manufacturing and commercial partner EssilorLuxottica has commented, and the timing, motive, and scope of the ...
Revenio lays out new strategy, betting big on Visionix
Revenio Group used its Capital Markets Day in Helsinki on September 15 to set out its strategy and financial targets for 2027-2029, its first full presentation since agreeing to acquire the French diagnostics group Visionix last April in a €290 million deal (see our earlier coverage). The event was held ...
Price is increasingly driving the US optical market as volumes drop in every category
The US optical market reached $19.1 billion in the second quarter of 2026, up from $18.4 billion in the first quarter, according to The Vision Council’s (TVC) latest Market inSights report. The quarterly estimates draw on consumer retail credit card spending data, patient billing and payment data, optical retail location ...
Fielmann unifies Spanish retail under Universitaria banner, eyes market lead
Fielmann Group is merging its two Spanish optical chains into a single brand. Óptica & Audiología Universitaria is absorbing Medical Óptica Audición, taking the combined network to 141 stores across 31 Spanish provinces, with the rebrand rolling out progressively through the end of 2026. “The brand unification is being carried ...
CVI revenues flatline amid US inventory reduction as CooperCompanies retains CooperSurgical
The revenues of CooperVision (CVI) were little changed in the third quarter of its fiscal year 2026, amid a reduction in US channel inventory that is also set to weigh on results in the last quarter of the year. CooperCompanies, the medical device company in which both CVI and CooperSurgical ...
Inspecs H1 mixed results highlight new owners’ challenge
INSPECS Group posted a slightly faster pace of revenue growth in the first half of 2026 than for the whole of last year. But that pickup came entirely from Manufacturing, the group’s small OEM arm, which is only just turning a profit. Frames and Optics, INSPECS’ much larger and historically ...
SILMO Paris 2026 holds steady in size, leans further into technology
SILMO Paris returns to Paris Nord Villepinte from September 25 to 28, and the numbers available so far point to a show holding steady. Yet a look beneath the surface reveals an event reorganizing itself: smart eyewear, AI and “oculomics,” the use of eye data to diagnose broader systemic health, ...
National Vision’s rebranding drive reaches Eyeglass World
National Vision has kicked off the second phase of its rebranding drive: after refreshing America’s Best in 2025, it’s now turning to Eyeglass World, its smaller banner.