The climate crisis is threatening life as we know it. Since the beginning of industrialization, the climate has rapidly changed. The planet is warming up, causing extreme weather events on a global scale. Silhouette takes its responsibility towards the planet seriously. As the global market leader in rimless premium eyewear, the Austrian family-owned company thinks long-term, with an eye on the future.

Empowered by Lightness: A Vision for the Future

Silhouette is leading by example. For instance, it produces its premium eyewear using 100 % climate-neutral green electricity. Since September 2022, its production is also CO₂-neutral thanks to carbon reduction projects and offsetting. In the last seven years, the brand has been able to slash its carbon footprint in half. It achieved this in part by switching to its own solar power and installing large solar panels on the roofs of its eyewear production facilities. The company is also phasing out combustion vehicles and has already replaced a quarter of them with electric and hybrid alternatives.

Gold Standard Project: 6-megawatt Solar Energy Farm

Any emissions that Silhouette cannot eliminate so far are offset by purchasing certificates from Gold Standard projects. The Austrian premium brand is focusing on solar energy generation in the Global South. In its first year, the brand is supporting a 6-megawatt solar energy farm in India. The farm in Kolanupaka supplies 9,899 MWh of clean energy each year to the local power grid, which is currently still dominated by fossil fuels. It cuts emissions by 9,535 tons of CO₂e (CO₂ equivalent) each year. The project connects multiple solar farms to the grid, lowering emissions while also improving air quality and living conditions, and making the local power supply more stable and sustainable. This will also make it possible to set up a health camp for 400 people and provide medical treatment in cooperation with nearby Kamineni Hospital.

Click HERE for the press release.

MIDO 2023gets a fresh, entirely updated look and a new claim: “The Eyewear State of the Art”, one that embodies the values that have set the show apart for more than 50 years: innovation and tradition, beauty and transformation, international appeal and memorability, wonder and substance.

Entitled FRAMES, the new communication campaign is in the hands of creative director Max Galli, designer, artist and, as he likes to define himself, “creative explorer”, in partnership with the Mixer Group. Galli has crafted an authentic vision statement with a powerful intercultural and inclusive approach, based on cross-fertilization and colour, that serves as a unique frame for the product heroes – spectacles and the entire eyewear universe – that one by one, become metaphors for style and personality.

The campaign is built around four individuals, who will be revealed each month from today until December 15, and who embody the underlying principles of the MIDO philosophy: contemporaneity, culture, fashion and beauty.

MIDO 2023 is set for February 4-6, 2023, at Fiera Milano Rho.

Click HERE for the full press release.

Fighting Blindness Canada (FBC) is pleased to hear the announcement that Canadians are one step closer to accessing Luxturna® (generic name: voretigene neparvovec), a sight-saving gene therapy. The pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance has concluded price negotiations with the manufacturer for this groundbreaking treatment, which is aimed at Canadians losing sight due to inherited retinal diseases (IRDs) retinitis pigmentosa and Leber congenital amaurosis, caused by the RPE65 gene mutation. However, this treatment will not be accessible to all Canadians until one final step is completed: approving Luxturna for public funding through each province’s and territory’s health care coverage. 

“Living with an IRD has a significant socio-economic and emotional impact not just on the individual but also their entire family,” said Doug Earle, President & CEO of Fighting Blindness Canada, citing a recent IRD Counts study that found the socio-economic impact for Canada with IRDs is $1.6 billion. Eighty percent of this cost is borne by the individuals and their families. 

“Having access to a treatment that can help slow or stop progression of vision loss is life-transforming. This is the only treatment available for these individuals and we are asking Canada’s provinces and territories to recognize the hope Luxturna represents to restore sight and prioritize its access.”

“We’re calling on each provincial and territorial government to immediately sign the agreement to cover the cost of this treatment. It has been almost two years since Health Canada approved Luxturna, yet the individuals who desperately want this treatment still don’t have access to it and have been needlessly losing sight each day,” said Earle.

Fighting Blindness Canada is urging all Canadians to visit ApproveLuxturna.ca to send an email to their Premier and Health Minister to expedite access to Luxturna.  

Click HERE for the full press release.

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Transitions Optical has published new multicultural resources to help eye care professionals (ECPs) better serve their diverse patient base. A white paper and education course both titled “Fostering a More Diverse, Equitable and Inclusive Optical Industry in Canada” are available online.

The new education course is designed to help empower ECPs to create a welcoming environment for a diverse patient base by understanding the different risks and eye health needs of the three largest and fastest-growing Black, Indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC) populations in Canada: Asian Canadians, Black Canadians, and Indigenous Canadians. The course also highlights key findings from Transitions Optical’s recent eye health needs and preferences survey for multicultural patients and provides tactical steps that ECPs can take to be more inclusive in their practice.

The course will be offered live in conjunction with the Opticians Association of Canada’s Western Conference on October 15 in Burnaby, BC. It will also be available through the OAC’s On-Demand library following the Conference.

The “Fostering a More Diverse, Equitable and Inclusive Optical Industry in Canada” white paper was created based on the consensus from a roundtable discussion featuring a panel of ECPs that took place earlier this year. Findings from the roundtable highlight the need for tailored care and continued education.

“The two new resources are a continuation of our history of support for diversity and inclusion efforts in Canada,” said Arnaud Rajchenbach, marketing and sales manager, Transitions Optical Canada. “With these new resources our goal is to support multicultural efforts within the optical industry in Canada, to help improve access to eye care and to build awareness for differing eye health needs of diverse populations among both consumers and eyecare professionals.”

ECPs can access the new white paper at Transitions.com/en-canadapro/education-product-knowledge. The education course will be available online after the Opticians Association of Canada’s Western Conference on October 15.

Click HERE for the full press release.