All Eyewear Intelligence articles in Volume 21 No. 15
View all stories from this issue.
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News briefs
Silmo Hors Les Murs hits the road
Silmo Hors Les Murs, the new format of regional events launched by Silmo after its Paris show was cancelled because of the Covid crisis, will take place on Oct. 3-4 in the Tuileries gardens in Paris. Silmo Hors Les Murs will join a larger fashion event, in association with the ...
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Article
Essilux to appeal Dutch court ruling on GrandVision
EssilorLuxottica has decided to file an appeal against a judgment dismissing its request for disclosure of information from GrandVision. The company repeated that it is concerned about GrandVision’s behavior in “continuing to deny access to important information” related to its handling of the Covid-19 outbreak. “Legal proceedings, including the appeal, ...
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Eyewear Intelligence Newsletter: Vol 21 - 15
Optical industry braces for spring/summer | Essilux to appeal Dutch GrandVision ruling | Essilux 360 launches in U.S. | GrandVision’s online booking | Analysts cut Safilo’s forecasts | Thai Optical to set up TOG Europe | Alcon’s Q2 vision care sales down | Bausch Health plans a spin-off | Brisk trade at New Look Vision | Eyewear strong on the Russian south | Tokyo IOFT confirmed | German optics seeks spare U.K. trade deal | Selfridges launches Project Earth | ABG, SPARC to buy Brooks Brothers
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News briefs
Robert La Roche revitalizes its collection
Robert La Roche, the upscale eyewear brand owned by Michael Pachleitner and managed since September 2019 by Kamilia Kusz, is revitalizing its collection with 19 models conceived by two teams of designers. The up-and-coming Austrian fashion designer Christoph Rumpf will be in charge of an acetate line and two limited ...
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News briefs
Lena Henry becomes president of GIFO
Lena Henry, the managing director of Essilor France since December last year, has been elected as the new president of GIFO, the French eyewear industry association. As of Sept. 1, she is taking over the position from Oxibis’ associate director Jérôme Colin who had been at the helm of the ...
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News briefs
PayPal to launch buy now, pay later solution in Q4
PayPal, the American online payment provider, announced that it will launch early in the fourth quarter “Pay in 4”, a short-term installment payment scheme for customers in the U.S. The service will permit merchants to be paid upfront while customers can pay for purchases between $30 and $600 over a ...
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News briefs
Walmart launches Walmart+ membership program
Walmart is launching the membership program Walmart+, its much anticipated response to Amazon Prime. Membership will be available to all U.S. customers on Sept. 15. It will cost $98 a year or $12.95 a month and includes a 15-day free trial period. Members will receive unlimited free delivery from stores, ...
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Article
Executive Survey: Optical industry braces up for a difficult spring/summer 2021 season
The optical industry is expecting a significant decline in demand for spring/summer 2021 collections as the world economy still reels from the blow of the Covid-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, many are maintaining comprehensive collections and relying on digital tools to defend or develop their businesses, according to an executive survey carried ...
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Article
Tokyo IOFT confirmed, reaches out to international brands
Encouraged by the local industry’s support, a return to a normal level of retail activity and the fact that trade shows in other sectors have recently taken place in Japan, the organizers of the Tokyo IOFT eyewear show have confirmed that this year’s edition would take place as scheduled from ...
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News briefs
Pro Optik reinforces its management
Micha Siebenhandl, Pro Optik’s 47-year old chief executive, who was appointed in March 2020, has reinforced the German company’s management. The company has hired Holger Schumann, previously head of financial planning and analysis at Apollo-Optik, as head of controlling. Meanwhile, Thorsten Lücke was appointed to be in charge of purchasing ...
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News briefs
Zeal releases sunglasses made of grass and PET
Zeal Optics of Boulder, Colorado, is launching a line of sunglasses with frames made of a material the company calls Sea Grass: a blend of grasses (straw, hemp, flax, rice) drawn from agricultural waste and recycled plastic bottles. Pellets of the material are manufactured in a process fueled by biogas ...
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Article
EssilorLuxottica ready to pursue lawsuit against GrandVision after losing first round
Yesterday, a Dutch district court rejected EssilorLuxottica’s request to obtain information from GrandVision to determine whether the Dutch retailer had breached the terms an agreement in view of its takeover by Essilux. The court said that the large volume of corporate information that Essilux is seeking to obtain without specific ...
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Article
Selfridges launches Project Earth
Selfridges has launched Project Earth, an initiative which explores “more sustainable ways to shop” by setting new sourcing standards and creating repair, resale and rental businesses. Under the scheme, the British department store pledges that by 2025 it will only stock products that respect its new sourcing standards on cotton, ...
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Article
German optics industry calls for stripped-down free trade deal between U.K., EU
Spectaris, the German industry association for optics, photonics, analysis and medical technology based in Berlin, called for a “stripped-down” free trade agreement between the U.K. and the European Union to avoid the parties failing to strike a deal, which would lead to a so-called hard Brexit. “Better a stripped-down free ...
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Article
Alcon’s Q2 vision care sales down 27% driven by contact lenses
In the second quarter of 2020, Alcon’s vision care division, which includes the contact lens and ocular health businesses, posted an 27 percent decrease in net sales to $596 million. At constant currency rates, the decline reached 25 percent and was primarily driven by lower demand and widespread closures, partially ...
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News briefs
Bayfields Opticians continues U.K. expansion
Bayfields Opticians and Audiologists has acquired three independent optical practices as it continues to expand in the U.K. It bought Gohil and Grey in Leamington Spa, Pendleburys in Maidstone, and Cooper & Leatherbarrow in Barnard Castle. The move comes after the fund BGF invested in Bayfields in March, just before ...
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Article
Thai Optical Group to set up TOG Europe
Commenting on its second-quarter financial results, Thai Optical Group (TOG) announced that it will establish a new distribution center for Europe in Poland. According to the lens maker, the new structure is scheduled to be operational before the end of the year and will help to increase business opportunities in ...
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Article
Essilux launches EssilorLuxottica 360 in the U.S. as group speeds up integration
Essilor and Luxottica, respectively the lens and frame subsidiaries of EssilorLuxottica, and Luxottica’s managed vision care unit EyeMed, created EssilorLuxottica 360, a new joint program that they claim will drive growth for independent eyecare professionals (ECPs) across the U.S. This is a concrete sign of further integration within the Franco-Italian ...
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News briefs
GLBL Eyewear signs licensing deal with ZooBug
GLBL Eyewear Group and has signed a long-term licensing deal with the children’s eyewear brand ZooBug, founded in London by the ophthalmologist Julie Diem Le in 2006. New Zoobug collections and the “Las Estrellas” line, designed by Kate Hill, should make their debut in the next few months.
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News briefs
Goodr releases line of aviator sunglasses
Goodr of Inglewood, California, has released a line of sunglasses called Mach G. The collection comes in seven fancifully named, aviation-themed colorways: “Operation: Blackout,” “Frequent Skymall Shoppers,” “Captain Blunt’s Red Eye,” “Kitty Hawkers Ray Blockers,” “Amelia Earhart Ghosted Me,” “Buzzed on the Tower” and “Ace of Face.” All models come ...