All Eyewear Intelligence articles in Volume 24 No. 5+6

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  • News briefs

    A report on Vision Expo East 2023

    22 March 2023

    The organizers of Vision Expo East, the Vision Council and RX, have expressed their satisfaction about the last edition of the show that just closed its doors on March 19 in New York, after three days of what was described as “the largest gathering of ophthalmic professionals in the U.S. ...

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    Eyewear Intelligence: Vol 24 - No 5+6

    21 March 2023

    EssilorLuxottica posts record revenue for 2022 despite Q4 slowdown | Safilo targets 4% annual growth pace for 2023-2027 | Safilo turns to luxury eyewear and fashion companies for its Longarone plant | Kering Eyewear invests in supply chain with new acquisition | ZEISS Vision Care advocates carefulness over speed in myopia management | ZEISS to accelerate in AR/VR glasses as tooz’ sole owner | The second demise of Google Glass | Fielmann eyes new investments, cost-cutting as 2022 sales inch up and profits fall | Synsam keeps growing but adjusts to tougher market | National Vision in the red in Q4 as uninsured customer base is hit by inflation | Warby Parker sees more store openings, looks to improve profitability after mixed Q4 | MyDay, myopia management keep driving CVI | Bausch + Lomb Q4 contact lens sales fall 4%, prepares to launch SiHy lenses in new markets | Up 21% in 2022, TOG forecasts 5-8% growth this year | KITS Eyecare up 11% last year, 29% in Q4 | Fast-growing Woodys moves to new HQ | Kubota Glass reports first sales, expands distribution in Japan

  • Woodys hq
    Article

    Fast-growing Woodys moves to new HQ

    20 March 2023

    Eyewear brand Woodys has announced that it was moving to a new 3,000 square meter headquarters in Vic, near Barcelona. The company stressed that the three-flour office was built with sustainability in mind, notably through the installation of solar panels for energy supply and the use of geothermal energy for ...

  • Google Glass
    Article

    The second demise of Google Glass

    20 March 2023

    Google ended sales of Google Glass on March 15 and will be “supporting” Glass Enterprise Edition until Sept. 15,” after which the surviving pairs of connected glasses will be on their own. If they break, they break. By autumn, then, Glass as a product will have died its second death. ...

  • News briefs

    ZVA releases preliminary German market figures, announces new president

    18 March 2023

    According to preliminary figures announced by the Zentralverband der Augenoptiker und Optometristen (ZVA) at his annual meeting last week, the German optical market value inched up by 2 percent year-on-year in 2022, with brick-and-mortar outperforming, notably in the area of prescription lenses, while online sales were said to have dropped ...

  • News briefs

    Spescavers launches myopia management in domestic market

    17 March 2023

    The Specsavers group has announced that it was launching the myopia management product category in the U.K. and the Republic of Ireland after having trained clinicians and retail colleagues through online sessions and roadshows. The company noted that the training of retail staff was aimed at giving them an understanding ...

  • News briefs

    Abu Dhabi invests $500 m in Lenskart

    17 March 2023

    Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (AIDA), a sovereign wealth fund owned by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, is investing $500 million in Indian-based retail group Lenskart, various Indian business media just confirmed. AIDA’s investment will mostly consist of secondary share sales as early investors in the group, including largest shareholder SoftBank, ...

  • News briefs

    MYKITA closes stainless steel supply loop

    17 March 2023

    MYKITA has announced that it has achieved full circularity for the production of its stainless steel frames in collaboration with Alleima, its longstanding supplier of the material. Stainless steel glasses have been a staple in the German brand’s portfolio since its early days and still account for roughly 65 percent ...

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    Article

    Kering Eyewear invests in supply chain with new acquisition

    15 March 2023

    Kering Eyewear is investing in its industrial development through the acquisition of Usinages & Nouvelles Technologies (UNT), a French-based manufacturer of high-precision and metal components for luxury eyewear that has been a longstanding supplier of Manufacture Kering Eyewear (formerly Manufacture Cartier Lunettes), the company has announced. Founded in 1989 and ...

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    Article

    Safilo turns to luxury eyewear and fashion companies for its Longarone plant

    15 March 2023

    Angelo Trocchia, CEO, indicated that the company is evaluating the “potential transfer of the Longarone plant to third parties with a view to preserving the know-how of the site and minimizing the social impact on the territory”. Trocchia, who was speaking during a capital markets day with analysts following the ...

  • News briefs

    Spectaris launches forum to help members comply with EU regulations

    14 March 2023

    The German industry association Spectaris is expanding its services for the ophthalmic optics industry with the new information forum “Regulatory Forum for the Ophthalmic Optics Industry” (RFAO), which is intended to assist in complying with increasingly complex statutory and legal requirements of the European Union. The RFAO is expected to ...

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    Article

    ZEISS Vision Care advocates carefulness over speed in myopia management

    13 March 2023

    ZEISS Vision Care, which has been active in myopia management (MM) clinical research in Asia for over ten years and has been marketing specific lenses in the region since 2011, is launching the category in Europe this spring, a couple of years after its main lens competitors entered the segment ...

  • Kits
    Article

    KITS Eyecare up 11% last year, 29% in Q4

    13 March 2023

    Canadian-based online retailer KITS Eyecare has reported $91.6 million in revenue for 2022, representing an 11.2 percent increase from the previous year. As shown in our table below, the company also reported substantial improvements in both gross and operating margins. Its bottom line however remained in the red for the ...

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    Article

    Kubota Glass reports first sales, expands distribution in Japan

    13 March 2023

    Kubota Pharmaceutical Holdings has announced the signature of a distribution agreement for Kubota Glass, its myopia management glasses, with EYETOPIA, a regional chain of optical shops in Japan that will offer the device in some of its roughly 170 Megane Store locations. In December last year, Kubota also opened a ...

  • News briefs

    A wind-powered Essilux

    13 March 2023

    EssilorLuxottica has signed a 12-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with ERG Power Generation in Italy. Taking effect this year, the contract covers the provision of about 900 GWh of electricity from renewable sources, or about 75 percent of production at ERG’s Partinico-Monreale plant, near Palermo. The plant is replacing all ...

  • Safilo
    Article

    Safilo targets 4% annual growth pace for 2023-2027

    10 March 2023

    The Safilo Group has confirmed an 11.1 percent year-on-year revenue for 2022 to €1,077 million as already announced in January when the company released its preliminary results, in spite of a strong deceleration in the last quarter of the year. We are focusing in this article on new information provided ...

  • News briefs

    Vuzix reports weakeking sales and widening loss for 2022

    9 March 2023

    Vuzix, the U.S.-based manufacturer of AR smart glasses for professionals, has announced a 10 percent year-on-year revenue drop to $11.8 million for 2022. Beyond the challenging macroeconomic environment and supply chain issues, the decrease was attributed to a reduction in overall unit sales, higher discounts to resellers and negative currency ...

  • News briefs

    Tech company STS rebrands to Ditar

    9 March 2023

    STS, a Belgian-based tech company supplying applications for e-commerce in the eyewear sector, is rebranding to Ditar, which stands for digital innovation through augmented reality. Ditar launched last month Magic Mirror, an app that allows customers to scan their faces and suggests frames that both fit their look and current ...

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    Article

    ZEISS to accelerate in AR/VR glasses as tooz’ sole owner

    8 March 2023

    ZEISS has announced its full acquisition of tooz technologies, the joint venture that it launched in 2018 together with Deutsche Telekom in order to develop augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) glasses. By buying the 50 percent share of its telecom partner, ZEISS becomes tooz’ sole owner and the ...

  • CooperVisionlenses
    Article

    MyDay, myopia management keep driving CVI

    6 March 2023

    CooperCompanies has reported a 4 percent year-on-year increase in revenue to $581 million for its CooperVision unit in the first quarter of its fiscal year. In organic terms, sales went up by 10 percent versus Q1 2022 with homogenous growth across all region. The sales’ momentum was driven by daily ...