Essilor International is a French multinational corporation specialized in the design, manufacture and sale of ophthalmic lenses, optical equipment and instruments.[1][2] It is the world's largest manufacturer of ophthalmic lenses.[3][4][5][6] Founded in 1972 out of the merger of two French companies operating in the sector, Essel and Silor,[7] it is headquartered in Charenton-le-Pont, near Paris. Since October 2018, it is a subsidiary of EssilorLuxottica which arose out of a merger between Essilor and the Italian eyewear corporation Luxottica.
In January 2017, Essilor announced a merger with Luxottica, in which Essilor would acquire the latter while Luxottica executive chairman Leonardo Del Vecchio would become co-executive chairman of the newly formed holding company, EssilorLuxottica.[1][8] On 1 October 2018, the new entity was born, resulting in a combined market capitalization of approximately €57 billion.[9]
History
1849–1972: Essel and Silor
Essel (Société des Lunetteries) was founded in 1849 (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 1955 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 1959 with the invention of Varilux, the first ophthalmic progressive lens.
Silor (Société Industrielle de Lunetterie et d'Optique Rationnelle) first started under the name Lissac in 1931 as a retailer of ophthalmic lenses and frames before becoming a lens manufacturer. In 1959, the same year Essel invented the progressive lens, Lissac made a discovery of its own: the Orma 1000 lens, made from a lightweight material.[10]
1972–1979: Creation of Essilor
After many years as rivals, Essel and Silor merged on 1 January 1972 to form Essilor, then the world's third-largest ophthalmic optical firm.
Activity and distribution
In 2020, about 88.8% of Essilor's turnover[42] 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
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 2000-year old Arctic Inuit design, utilising carved slivers of whalebone, slit horizontally, to provide anti-glare eye protection).
Eyewear and lens brands
- Essilor[47]
- 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.
Online retail stores
- Clearly
- Eyebuydirect
- Framesdirect
- Lensway
- My Optique Group
- Vision Direct
Research and development
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.[48] In 2011, Pierre and Marie Curie University accredited Essilor wearer tests. In 2018, 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.[49]
Innovation
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 2010, Essilor created Shopper Labs, renamed Essilor Companion™ Lab in 2020, experimental stores for opticians to support their practices.
Brands
Varilux
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 1959 it was the first progressive lens available on the market.
Crizal Prevencia
Crizal Prevencia, launched in 2013, is a lens that lets in beneficial light and filters out blue-violet and UV rays. In 2014, 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.[59]
Crizal Prevencia
Crizal Prevencia, launched in 2013, is a lens that lets in beneficial light and filters out blue-violet and UV rays. In 2014, Essilor won a Fibre Innovation Award for Crizal Prevencia at an event at the Paris Pierre and Marie Curie University
Corporate social responsibility
Initiatives
The Essilor Vision Foundation was founded in 2007 in the United States to help eliminate poor vision among children.[68]
In 2012, 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 2016, 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.[69]
In 2013, the firm launched the Eye Mitra program in India to increase access to vision care for underserved populations.[70]
Partnerships
Key figures
Financial information
See also
- Hubert Sagnières
External links
References
- Sam Knight. The spectacular power of Big Lens The Guardian, 10 May 2018, retrieved 3 June 2018^
- Progressive lenses from Essilor – Visioncare Optometrist Seychelles Visioncare Optometrist Seychelles, 29 November 2016, retrieved 25 May 2017^
- Albertina Torsoli. Essilor Slumps as Second-Quarter Sales Miss Estimates