French-based optics company

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Essilor International is an international ophthalmic optics company that designs, manufactures and markets lenses to correct or protect eyesight.[1] Its headquarters is in Charenton-le-Pont (near Paris), France.

It is the world's largest manufacturer of ophthalmic lenses.[2] The firm is responsible for creating Varilux, the world's first progressive lens, which corrects presbyopia and allows clear vision in the wearer's near, intermediate and far vision.[1][3] The company formed from the merger of ophthalmic firms Essel and Silor in .[4]

In January Essilor announced a merger with Italian eyewear giant Luxottica, in which Essilor would acquire the Italian eyewear company while Luxottica executive chairman Leonardo Del Vecchio would become co-executive chairman of the company.[1][5] On 1 October , the new holding company EssilorLuxottica was born, resulting in combined market capitalization of approximately &#;57 billion.[6]

History

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&#;: Essel and Silor

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For the Indian conglomerate, see Essel Group

Essel (Société des Lunetteries) was founded in (then-called L'Association Fraternelle des Ouvriers Lunetteries) as a small network of eyeglass assembly workshops in Paris. It expanded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by acquiring factories in nearby Parisian neighborhoods and Eastern France. Essel soon added frame design and trade to its activities. In Essel launched a frame design, Nylor, that is still used today. The Nylor system introduced thin nylon that surrounds the lens and is fixed to the frame's higher branch. Essel's breakthrough came in with the invention of Varilux, the first ophthalmic progressive lens.[citation needed]

Original Lissac store in Paris

Silor (Société Industrielle de Lunetterie et d'Optique Rationnelle) first started under the name Lissac in as a retailer of ophthalmic lenses and frames before becoming a lens manufacturer. In , the same year Essel invented the progressive lens, Lissac made a discovery of its own: the Orma lens, made from a lightweight material.[7]

&#;: Creation of Essilor

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After many years as rivals, Essel and Silor merged on 1 January to form Essilor, then the world's third-largest ophthalmic optical firm.[1] Its first year of existence was marked by the creation of Valoptec, a non-trading company composed of stockholder managers who held half the company's capital stock, and the purchase of Benoist-Bethiot, a French lens manufacturer specializing in progressive lenses.[citation needed]

In the mid-s, Essilor focused on becoming a true optical group specializing in plastic progressive lenses. Many subsidiary activities were first sold off, but in Essilor fused Benoist-Bethiot with Guilbert-Routit, creating the subsidiary BBGR. Essilor began its transformation from mainly an exporting company to an international company by opening a manufacturing plant in the United Kingdom,[8] and acquiring manufacturing plants in the United States, Ireland and the Philippines.[9] In , the company was listed on the stock exchange. The innovations by Essel and Silor led to the Varilux Orma's launch in .[citation needed]

&#;: International growth

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The s began with intensified competition. Essilor purchased four new plants in four years, in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Brazil and Thailand. In France, new instruments facilitated automation of the manufacturing process. Many distributors were acquired or merged with Essilor in Europe (Norway, Portugal) and Asia (Burma, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam).[citation needed]

In the United States, all subsidiaries were brought together under the Essilor of America umbrella. This global network allowed Essilor to launch a new Varilux lens, the VMD, in Europe and the United States.[citation needed]

&#;: Partnerships

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Essilor has gradually withdrawn its frames business to focus on corrective lenses. It has launched a coating, Crizal, that provides lenses with resistance to scratches, reflections and stains. Essilor partnered with PPG of the United States to develop Transitions, a technology that allows lenses to become darker or lighter depending on the intensity of ambient light. With the acquisition of Gentex, Essilor also launched the polycarbonate Airwear lens, a lightweight, unbreakable material.[citation needed]

In Essilor launched the Essilor Vision Foundation in the USA. This organization was created to run tests in schools to detect vision problems. Essilor Vision Foundation provides the followup care and glasses to children in need.[10]

In Essilor acquired the Swiss company Satisloh, a manufacturer of prescription laboratory equipment.[11]

In , Essilor acquired 50% of the kibbutz-based Shamir Optical Industry. Shamir took advantage of Essilor's worldwide distribution network to develop its activity by launching new products.[12]

&#;: Diversification

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In Essilor acquired FGX International, an American company whose brands include Foster Grant.[13] In , Essilor acquired 50% of the Chinese company Wanxin Optical. The growth drivers for the Chinese market are the aging population and the increase of reimbursement for eye care.[14] The 40th anniversary of the merger between Essel and Silor was in July , an occasion to highlight their contributions and improvements on technologies.[15] As of September , Essilor has been involved in the Special Olympics for 10 years, providing almost 100,000 free eyeglasses to the athletes.[16] In May , Safilo and Essilor agreed on a 10-year licensing deal allowing Essilor to use Safilo's Polaroid brand for polarized lenses.[17] In July , Essilor bought 51% of Transitions Optical's stakes from PPG Industries.[18] Essilor will eventually hold 100% of Transitions Optical. The deal was closed in ,[19] and aims to develop Essilor's leadership in lenses that adapt to changing light.[20] In March , Essilor announced the acquisition of the Canadian online distributor Coastal.com, which rebranded as Clearly.ca in . Essilor reinforced its presence online, adding Coastal.com to its online subsidiaries, such as MyOnlineOptical, FramesDirect and Eyebuydirect.[21]

In , Essilor won four awards at the First Edition of the Vision-X VP Awards. Its Varilux S Series won Most Popular Lens (Progressive), and the Transitions Signature VII won Most Popular Lens (Best Value). Its Crizal Forte UV and Mr Blue won Most Popular Lens Coating/Value Add and Best Value Enhancer (Lab).[22] In , Essilor International's U.S. subsidiary acquired Vision Source, a service network of independent optometrists, from Brazos Equity Partners LLC for an undisclosed amount.[23] By 19 March the company had a share value of 23,564 million euros, distributed in 216,477,934 shares.

In March the company bought the UK online contacts retailer VisionDirect UK, adding to many online eyewear brands Essilor already owns.[24] On 16 August , Essilor International also completed the acquisition of MyOptique Group Ltd (parent company of Eyewearbrands, German-based Lensbest and 4care, Nordic and UK-operating VisionDirect [previously Lensbase and LensOn, and UK-based glasses e-retailer pioneers Glasses Direct and the Sunglasses Shop) for an estimated £120 million. Founded by entrepreneur Jamie Murray Wells in Wiltshire in , MyOptique has an estimated active customer base of one million and an annual turnover of £57 million. As such, Essilor aimed to broaden its Central European online footprint and further diversify.[25][26][27]

: Merger with Luxottica

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In January , Essilor agreed to merge with Luxottica,[28][29][30][31][32][33] subject to regulatory permission and competition conditions.[34][35][36]

Throughout, Luxottica faced allegations of unfair operating practices, including the abuse of market dominance to artificially inflate prices and also restrict competition via monopolisation.[37][38] In March , the merger of Essilor and Luxottica received formal clearance from the United States Federal Trade Commission and European Trade Commission without qualifying or prerequisite conditions.[39] A new holding company, EssilorLuxottica, was formally created on 1 October , resulting in combined market capitalization of approximately &#;57 billion.

Activity and distribution

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In , about 88.8% of Essilor's turnover[40] came from the sale of ophthalmic lenses and optical instruments, 8.9% driven by sunglasses and readers and 2.3% from other activities, such as equipment sales.

Essilor operates a worldwide network of production plants, prescription laboratories, and distribution centers that supply corrective lenses, glasses, and sunglasses to opticians, optical chains, and consumers (via e-retailers it owns and/or operates directly).

Scientific and technical heritage

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Essilor manages a collection of patents and objects related to its history and collaborates with several optics-related institutions. It offered the Essilor&#;Pierre Marly collection (one of the world's largest optical instrument and eyewear collections, consisting of about 2,500 items collected by Marly, a celebrity optician who operated in the second half of the 20th century) to the Musée de la lunette. The collection includes medieval spectacles, bourgeois lorgnettes, walking sticks with optical systems, French actress Sarah Bernhardt's lorgnettes, the daughter of Louis XV's [Victoire de France] glasses, and the iconic white plastic Courrèges Slit (a futuristic pair of sunglasses modelled upon a -year old Arctic Inuit design, utilising carved slivers of whalebone, slit horizontally, to provide anti-glare eye protection).[41][42] In , Essilor signed a partnership with Le CNAM/PATSTEC to join the Mission nationale de sauvegarde du patrimoine scientifique et technique contemporain (National Mission for the Safeguarding of Contemporary Scientific and Technological Heritage).[43][44]

Eyewear and lens brands

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• Essilor

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  • Varilux &#; Brand of premium progressive addition lenses
  • Crizal &#; Industry-leading anti-reflective coating for lenses
  • Eyezen &#; Digitally surfaced lens marketed towards users of electronic devices
  • Xperio &#; Polarized sunglass lens
  • Optifog &#; Fog resistant lens technology
  • Stellest &#; Lens targeted towards young children, designed to slow the progression of myopia.
  • Orma &#; Essilor's branding of the CR-39 lens material.
• Transitions &#; #1 selling brand of photochromic lenses. Formerly a joint venture between Essilor and PPG.
• Foster Grant &#; American brand selling non-prescription reading glasses; acquired from FGX in .
• Bolon &#; Chinese ophthalmic frame brand.
• Molsion
• Kodak Lens &#; Mid-range lens and coating brand, produced under license from Eastman Kodak. Less premium than Essilor's flagship Varilux and Crizal products.

Online retail stores

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• Clearly
• Eyebuydirect
• Framesdirect
• Lensway
• My Optique Group
• Vision Direct

Research and development

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Essilor invests over &#;200m each year in research and innovation, three times more than the rest of the industry combined.[1] In Singapore, the Centre for Innovation and Technology and the International Vision Academy are housed in a facility called Kallang Bahru.[45] In , Pierre and Marie Curie University accredited Essilor wearer tests. In , Essilor was ranked for the 8th consecutive year on Forbes's list of the world's most innovative companies. It is the third French company in the ranking.[46]

Innovation

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Essilor has about 450 researchers working at its five R&D facilities: one in Ireland dedicated to photochromic lenses and four Innovation and Technologies Centers in Europe (Créteil, France), the United States (Dallas) and Asia (China and Singapore). The facilities develop new products and work to identify and forge the best possible research partnerships.

In , Essilor created Shopper Labs, renamed Essilor Companion&#; Lab in , experimental stores for opticians to support their practices.

In , the Silmo[47] international optics tradeshow honored Essilor's Vision-R&#;800 in the Material/Equipment category and BBGR's BLUV® XPERT, in the Vision category.

In Forbes named Essilor one of the world's 100 "Most Innovative Companies",[48] ranked 52nd; a marked increase from (68th). Every year since , Essilor has figured among the top 100 publicly traded companies investors identify as having the highest innovation potential.

Virtual reality

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Essilor's research department particularly concentrates on the combined progress of two complementary disciplines: optics and physiology, with particular recourse to virtual reality, a simulation tool that makes it possible to perceive and interact in 3D in a multi-sensory way.[49]

Researchers today use a virtual visualization system, equipped with algorithms and modeling Essilor developed to explore new optical solutions that can be tested directly on wearers. This simulator makes it possible to vary the properties of the lenses tested, study optical effects and immediately gauge wearer satisfaction. To do so, a magnetic sensor records a subject's head movements and images that show the eyes' exact viewpoint 120 times per second. After testing, the results are used to fine-tune the lenses' performance. In , the Varilux Ipseo New Edition was designed using Essilor's Virtual Reality system.

Partnerships

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Essilor has a number of partnerships with universities and other scientific and technical communities.

You will get efficient and thoughtful service from Hongsheng.

The firm participated in the Vision Institute (Institut de la Vision de Paris), a research center on ocular pathology inaugurated in .[50] In the firm, the Vision Institute and the Sorbonne University in Paris created Silversight, a joint public-private research program on healthy visual ageing.[51]

In , the firm began a collaboration with the University of Montréal on perception and ageing.[52] In this became the NSERC-Essilor industrial Chair.

In the firm was one of six industry partners along with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to create a research chair in coatings engineering at the Ecole Polytechnique de Montréal.[53]

In , the firm established a joint research center in China with Wenzhou Medical University to investigate the progression of myopia, with a focus on the evolution of children's myopia.[54]

In Essilor and the CNRS LAAS signed a research partnership. A multidisciplinary team of researchers and engineers will research lenses and glasses with active and connected functions.[55]

Brands

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Varilux

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Varilux is a brand of progressive lenses for people with presbyopia-correcting their vision at near and far distances and in between. Engineer Bernard Maitenaz invented the lens and in it was the first progressive lens available on the market.

Crizal Prevencia

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Crizal Prevencia, launched in , is a lens that lets in beneficial light and filters out blue-violet and UV rays.

In , Essilor won a Fibre Innovation Award for Crizal Prevencia at an event at the Paris Pierre and Marie Curie University celebrating advances in technology that benefit society.[56]

Eyezen

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In Essilor launched Eyezen lenses, designed for people's increasingly connected lives. Its research had determined that the reading distance of 40 cm that had been used as a standard for lens development had decreased to an average 33 cm when using digital tools.[57]

Transitions

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Transitions Optical, Inc., specializing in photochromic lenses, started as a joint venture between PPG Industries and Essilor International S.A. in . In , it launched the first commercially viable photochromic shield for motorcycle helmets. In , it introduced Transitions XTRActive lenses, with technology that allows the lenses to activate behind the windshield.

In April , Essilor acquired the entire stake of PPG in Transitions.

In , Essilor announced that Transitions Optical had partnered with Johnson & Johnson Vision to make the light-adaptive photochromic technology available in a contact lens for the first time. Later that year, Time magazine named Acuvue Oasys with Transitions Light Intelligent technology the best invention of .[58] Acuvue Oasys with Transitions was discontinued in .[59]

Vision Direct

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Vision Direct, formerly Vision Direct Group Ltd , is an online optical retailer that sells contact lenses, solutions and eye care products. Founded in as Optical Partners plc (unlisted), a small High Street retail business headed by Michael Kraftman,[60] the company is based in the United Kingdom but also operates in the United States, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands and Belgium. In it rebranded itself from GetLenses.[61]

In Vision Direct ran a £2 m TV advertising campaign.[62] Vision Direct's Christmas campaign featured a short sighted pug named Gizmo, who had been having trouble with his glasses.[63][64]

In Vision Direct was acquired by Essilor, putting it under the same ownership as Coastal / Clearly.[65]

Corporate social responsibility

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Initiatives

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The Essilor Vision Foundation was founded in in the United States to help eliminate poor vision among children.[66][non-primary source needed]

In , Essilor created the Vision Impact Institute, which manages a database of research and scientific studies on visual health and raises awareness of the benefits of corrected vision to guide public health policy decisions. One of the first research papers shared by the Institute showed that the global economy loses $227 billion every year from lost productivity caused by poor vision. In , the firm contributed to the EYElliance report "Bridging the visual divide", at the World Economic Forum, calling for more financial support for access to eyeglasses.[67][non-primary source needed]

In , the firm launched the Eye Mitra program in India to increase access to vision care for underserved populations.[68]

Partnerships

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FIA

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Essilor and the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) signed a three-year partnership that will promote good vision as a key pillar of road safety through awareness campaigns and underline the importance of regular sight tests to ensure safe driving.[69]

The Jubilee Trust Fund

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In April the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust announced the creation of the Vision Catalyst Fund to bring eye care to people in the Commonwealth. Essilor is a partner in the fund.[70][non-primary source needed]

Key figures

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Financial information

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Numbers in millions of euros Year Revenue 2,138 2,116 2,203 2,424 2,690 2,908.1 3,074.4 3,268.0 3,891.6 4,190 4,989 5,065 5,670 6,716 7,115 7,402 Net income 182 200 244 287 328 366.7 382.4 394.0 462.0 506 584 594 642 757 813 833 Equity funds 1,212 1,206 1,341 1,681 1,881 2,156 2,351 2,713 3,001 3,458 3,921 4,041 5,260 6,092 6,504 6,688 Number of employees: 23,269 23,607 24,793 26,534 29,288 31,534 34,320 34,759 42,704 48,700 52,600 55,000 58,000 55,000 63,676 67,000

See also

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References

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Our Lens Quality
 

We produce the highest quality prescription lenses available. If we don't make your lenses perfectly, we will remake your lenses or refund 100% of your money. Guaranteed perfect lenses. How can we make this guarantee? Simple: we don't make your lenses. Making perfect eyeglasses is a science and an art rolled into one. All of our lenses are made by our Essilor-partner lab which has over 50 employees involved in making every pair of lenses. Essilor is the largest and highest quality eyeglass lens maker in the world, with over 200 lens labs in the United States alone. So when you ask Eyeglasses.com to make your lenses, you are not getting a local guy cutting lenses in the back room on aged equipment. You are getting the very best plastic (or glass) lens, installed in a quality controlled, ISO lens-making laboratory. Your lenses pass through 16-21 quality control stations before they are finally released. If the lenses fail at any one of those stations, they are returned for further processing, or they are scrapped and begun again. Perfect lenses, guaranteed.

Essilor is the world leader in eyeglass lenses. Essilor created the first and finest progressive lenses (Varilux lenses, Varilux Definity®, Varilux Comfort®, Varilux Physio®, Varilux Ellipse®), the finest lens coating (Crizal), and the finest single vision lenses on the market today (Orma, Thin&Lite, and Airwear). But if none of these lenses appeal to you, we can also offer Zeiss, Transition, Younger, Trivex, Kodak, Pentax, Sola, Hoya, and other lens brands - just ask for a quote. To make perfect eyeglass lenses, getting the right lens is only half of the story. The other half is the lens installation. If you buy the best lens and it is installed wrong, you have wasted your money. At Eyeglasses.com, you can be assured that you are getting the exact lens you ask for, and it is being installed with the very highest skill, attention to detail, and quality control.
 

What Is An Eyeglass Lens?

Eyeglass lenses are nothing more than a carefully carved block of clear plastic. Lens quality is determined by four factors:
1) The clarity of the plastic
2) the precision of the carving
3) the accuracy of the prescription and PD measurement, and
4) the accuracy of the cutting of the lens to fit your frames.

Who makes the lens?

Several groups are involved in the making of lens. A problem in any one of these steps can lead to less effective vision correction by the lens. A good provider of eyeglass lenses will have relationships with the best lens quality providers, but will also check and re-check every lens before dispensing it. The store you choose to make your lenses must insist on quality at every level in order for you to receive the best quality product. This kind of quality control is essential in order to ensure consistent results.

--The maker of the plastic determines the clarity of the plastic: Essilor, Zeiss, Pentax, Seiko, many others.

--The cutter of the plastic determines the precision of the carving. The plastic maker does the surfacing for stock lenses. The lens laboratory does the carving for surfaced lenses.

--The eye doctor determines the optics for the lens such that it will work best for your eyes' condition. An eyewear store employee measures the pupillary distance.

--The person that cuts ("edges") the lens for your frame installs lenses so that the optical centers match the pupillary distance measurement. This could be an eyewear store employee, or lens laboratory.

About the Plastic Manufacturers

Nowadays most quality lens plastic in made in the Far East. It is made in large pieces called blanks which are round about four inches in diameter and about half an inch thick. There are different types and qualities of blanks. The quality is determined by the clarity, meaning the absence of miasms (small bubbles or inconsistencies which can only be seen with a microscope). The lower lens quality and less expensive plastics have more miasms which, although you cannot see them with the naked eye, can still add up to decreased visual acuity.

At Eyeglasses.com, we only use better or best quality lens plastic made by well-known plastic suppliers. It is very easy for any eyewear retailer to cut their lens costs by 50% by switching to lower quality lens suppliers. We inspect every lens that we receive at least three times to ensure that it meets our standards. All of our suppliers have unconditional return policies for defects in lens quality.

About Lens Laboratories

There are two basic ways of cutting lenses, depending on the prescription. Most prescriptions fall within a standard range, called the stock range (on average the range is +/-8.00 sphere and up to +2.00 cylinder). Single vision lenses that are in the stock range are usually surfaced by the plastic makers in bulk by huge computerized machines. These lenses are then shipped to optical stores so that the store employees can edge the lenses into the frame. Most multifocal lenses, and all lenses that fall outside of the stock prescription range, must be fashioned custom for each prescription. In these cases, plastic blanks (chunks of plastic) are shipped to lens laboratories where they are carved (surfaced) for each individual prescription.

There are hundreds of lens laboratories around the country, several in each state. A typical lens laboratory will do a minimum of a few hundred lenses a day with a large staff of highly trained and experienced technicians. A few optical stores (like Lenscrafters) have small surfacing facilities in each of their stores doing much smaller lens volume. To surface a lens, the lens laboratory takes the blank and puts it through a series of grinding machines, which grinds the surface the lens and shapes it exactly to the specifications of the prescription. Lens laboratories also provide other services like edging and mounting, which optical stores can choose to use or not, depending on whether they want to do that work themselves.

As with any custom service, the quality of the surfacing and any other services that the lab provides-- is determined by the experience and the expertise of the laboratory, its personnel, and the equipment it uses. We only use labs that employ a large staff of highly trained technicians, doing a large volume of lenses every day. At Eyeglasses.com, we do none our own edging services ourselves, and all of it is done by our lens laboratories. Most of our orders require stock lenses; all of our custom surfacing work is done by lens laboratories.

The laboratories that we use each have many years of experience and do thousands of lenses each week. Each lab that we use inspects each lens several times during the manufacturing process. When we receive the finished product from the lab, we do our own final inspection.

About Eye doctors: They Can Make Mistakes

The optometrist (OD) or ophthalmologist (MD) that issues the prescription is not involved in the fashioning of the lens, but the prescription they issue is crucial to the overall effectiveness of the lens. Occasionally the OD or MD can issue a prescription that is not quite right. Also, it is possible for your eyes, and your prescription, to change rapidly during some stages of your life.

Pupillary Distance PD Measurement: Who Measures It?

Normally an optical store employee will take your PD measurement when you go to buy glasses. If you want more freedom to choose where to buy your eyeglasses, you should ask your optometrist or ophthalmologist to measure the PD during your exam. Usually they will not measure the PD unless you ask them to. If you have your PD measurement and your prescription when you leave your eye doctors office, then you can buy glasses and lenses at any eyewear store. With your PD and your prescription, you will not be forced to go to an optical store to get your PD measurement, and then feel obliged to buy glasses from that store.

Edging Lenses: Who Does That?

Edging is performed in a number of different ways. It can be done at the lens laboratory, or in the optical store. Either way, it is not required in any state that the edging be done by a licensed person. About one-half of the states in the United States have opticianry laws. In those licensed states, edging can be done by an unlicensed person that is "overseen" by a licensed person.

The edging for most glasses made in this country is not performed by a licensed professional. However, all of the edging that is done for Eyeglasses.com is done in a state-of-the-art lens laboratory. When we ask our laboratory to do the edging, it is done by an employee/tradesman that does at least hundreds of jobs per day. That person has a very high skill and accuracy level that we have found to deliver very high quality.

Author of this article: 

Mark Agnew
CEO of Eyeglasses.com, which he founded in .  For over twenty years, he has educated consumers, improved their vision choices, and reduced costs in eyewear.  Mark authored The Eyeglasses Buying Guide, the most comprehensive and best-selling glasses buying guide in the world.
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