All Eyewear Intelligence articles in Volume 24 No. 1+2

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  • SP-EYE-15757 VM Innovator Portrait Assets_Image_HiRes
    Sponsored article

    Plastics not just recycled but renewed – revolutionary materials for eyewear are here

    25 January 2023 Sponsored by

    Game-changing new products from Eastman clear the way for sustainability in eyewear manufacturing

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    Eyewear Intelligence: Vol 24 - No 1+2

    25 January 2023

    Exports jump and new projects for Italian eyewear but ANFAO warns of looming crisis | The Vision Council sees a much bigger but flat U.S. market for 2022 | German optical associations release new market data at opti | A look at the year ahead | Industry top five average stocks’ value up 11% in Q4 | Specsavers owners place company in family trust | Fielmann expands Spanish business with new acquisition | Synsam sticks to financial targets, details strategy on Capital Markets Day | Afflelou up 2.1% in Q1 with return to growth in France | Zeiss Vision Care up double digits in 2021/22 | Top management changes at Rodenstock Group | Meta acquires 3D-printed ophthalmic lens company Luxexcel | TCL and others unveil new smart glasses at the CES show | Innovative Eyewear and ABG partner in smart audio glasses | Product carbon footprint, circularity and 3D print on Ace & Tate sustainability agenda | Downsized opti to focus on myopia management and sustainability

  • Synsam_Hötorget_Exteriört_dec2021
    Article

    Synsam details roadmap to mid-term financial targets

    25 January 2023

    During its Capital Markets Day held on Jan. 30 at one of its flaship store in Stockholm, Nordics’ leading retailer Synsam Group confirmed its medium-term financial targets and disclosed more information and figures on how it would achieve them. The presentation took place as the group’s share price lost about ...

  • News briefs

    JINS driven by overseas markets in Q1

    24 January 2023

    Japanese-based retailer JINS booked an 11.6 percent year-on-year increase in Q1 sales to 17,051 million Japanese yen (€120m), accelerating strongly from the 5.1 percent growth reported for the previous quarter. The Q1 sales uptick was largely driven by a 35.5 percent jump in overseas revenue to ¥ 4,584 million (€32m) ...

  • News briefs

    Over 1,000 exhibitors to participate in MIDO 2023

    23 January 2023

    The organizers of MIDO have announced that over 1,000 exhibitors from around the world would take part in the next edition of the show scheduled from Feb. 4 to 6 in Milan, a strong increase from last year’s 660 companies. Beyond the presence of most eyewear industry players from Europe ...

  • News briefs

    Charmant Europe launches bio-acetate brand

    20 January 2023

    Charmant Europe is launching GEO Eyewear, a new brand of glasses focusing on sustainability and inclusion, the company announced. Charmant said that the frames were made from bio-acetate material and that all suppliers for the brand were accredited for their social and sustainable policies. Rather than offsetting its emissions, which ...

  • News briefs

    Cartier starts new bespoke eyewear service

    20 January 2023

    Cartier Eyewear is launching Set for you by Cartier, a new service for bespoke eyewear available globally for a preselection of rimless sunglasses. Customers will be able to personalize their frames by changing their size, the temples’ design and material, the end tips’ color, the metal finishes and the shape ...

  • News briefs

    De Rigo adds new license to portfolio

    20 January 2023

    The De Rigo group has announced the signature of a new license agreement for the design, production and global distribution of optical frames and sunglasses under the Twinset Milano brand. Founded in 1987, Twinset is a brand of women’s clothing active in the contemporary luxury sector, according to the announcement. ...

  • Apple
    News briefs

    Apple’s contribution to eyewear is running late

    20 January 2023

    The brand that made smooth electronics a thing has hit a snag in its product development. Apple was planning to introduce two big products over the next two years or so: first a mixed-reality headset (combining augmented with virtual reality, or AR with VR), then AR glasses. Unfortunately, as Bloomberg ...

  • News briefs

    Hoya invests $10 million in Canadian labs

    20 January 2023

    Hoya Vision Care has annouced that it would invest close to $10 million in the expansion of its Canadian lab network. The group’s Canadian subsidiary is the first optical lab in North America to have installed SCHNEIDER’s new Modulo Center One surfacing system for an improved efficiency, the announcement reads. ...

  • Marcus Desimoni_Rodenstock
    Article

    Top management changes at Rodenstock Group

    18 January 2023

    The Rodenstock Group successively announced in the last two days the appointment of a new CEO for the group and of a new general manager for its optoVision subsidiary. Following the decision of current CEO Anders Hedegaard to step down, Rodenstock has appointed Marcus Desimoni to replace him, effective Feb. ...

  • Zenni
    News briefs

    Zenni endows three scholarships

    18 January 2023

    The optical retailer Zenni has set up three scholarships, each worth $25,000, for students at the New England College of Optometry (NECO) who have a “desire to provide eyecare in vulnerable communities” – that is, what the American Public Health Association (APHA) describes as “low-income and racial and ethnic minority ...

  • News briefs

    Mojo Vision shelves its AR contact lens

    17 January 2023

    Mojo Vision CEO Drew Perkins announced in a blog post a few days ago that the U.S.-based tech company was halting the development of Mojo Lens, its augmented reality (AR) smart contact lens. Perkins said that the decision was motivated by difficulties in raising new capital in a slumping global ...

  • Lucyd
    Article

    Innovative Eyewear and ABG partner in smart audio glasses

    17 January 2023

    Innovative Eyewear, a U.S.-based company specializing on smart eyewear with embedded audio technology, announced at the end of 2022 the signature of a new multi-year global license agreement to develop and market smart glasses under the Eddie Bauer brand. The first range is slated for launch in the course of ...

  • CES (c) Laurent Garrigues
    Article

    TCL and others unveil new smart glasses at the CES show

    16 January 2023

    According to research company Market Research Future, the market for AR and VR smart glasses is expected to grow at an annual average of 13.5 percent until 2030, reaching $26 billion for the 2022-2030 period. Aside from tech giants such as Google, Apple, and Meta, which recently acquired 3D-printed ophthalmic ...

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    Article

    German optical associations release new market data at opti

    16 January 2023

    Ahead of the opening of the opti trade show in Munich today, industry association Spectaris announced that, based on its preliminary calculations, sales from German-based suppliers of ophthalmic optics and consumer optics reached a total of €4.87 million for 2022, up by 2.5 percent from 2021. The growth was entirely ...

  • News briefs

    Marcolin and Harley-Davidson renew and expand partnership

    13 January 2023

    Marcolin has announced the renewal until 2027 of its Harley-Davidson license for the design, production and global distribution of optical frames and sunglasses under the famous American motorbike brand. Both companies have been partnering since 2013 and the acquisition of Viva International by the Italian group. The scope of the ...

  • News briefs

    ECOO issues new sustainability guidance for member associations

    13 January 2023

    The European Council of Optometry and Optics (ECOO) has released a new guidance on the issue of sustainability and how it relates to the eye care sector. The four-page document, which can be found on the organization’s website, makes suggestions on how national associations can relay sustainabiity information to their ...

  • News briefs

    KITS Eyecare sales up 25 percent in Q4

    13 January 2023

    Canadian e-commerce company KITS Eyecare has announced a 25 percent year-on-year revenue growth to $25 million for Q4 2022, with repeat consumers accounting for roughly 60 percent of sales. For the full year, the company is expecting the topline to grow by 9 percent compared to 2021, reaching $90 million. ...

  • WoutervanderSar_21120600-12
    Article

    Product carbon footprint, circularity and 3D print on Ace & Tate sustainability agenda

    12 January 2023

    Dutch-based eyewear brand Ace & Tate will launch its first 3D-printed collection with a short range of sports glasses, we learned in an interview with Femme van Gils, sustainability manager, and Sean Peron, vice president of marketing and brand. The collection will be based on Arkema’s Polyamide 11, a polymer ...