Warby Parker announced that more than 10 million pairs of glasses have been distributed through its Buy a Pair, Give a Pair program. Launched at the Company’s founding as part of its commitment to increasing access to vision care for people around the world, the Buy a Pair, Give a Pair program is simple: for every pair of Warby Parker glasses purchased, a pair of glasses is distributed to someone in need.

“We founded Warby Parker with a mission to inspire and impact the world with vision, purpose, and style. It’s hard to put into words how we feel knowing that now more than 10 million people globally have received a life-changing pair of glasses through our Buy a Pair, Give a Pair program,” said Co-Founder and Co-CEO Dave Gilboa. “Alleviating the problem of impaired vision has long been at the heart of what we do.”

How The Buy A Pair, Give A Pair Program Works

To date, Warby Parker’s Buy a Pair, Give a Pair program has supported people in more than 50 countries around the world. Through its partnerships, the Company prioritizes communities with the most significant need around the world, many of which are extremely limited in their access to vision care. The two distribution models Warby Parker employs are:

Social Entrepreneurship: The non-profit social enterprise VisionSpring has been Warby Parker’s primary partner in this work, accelerating the uptake of eyeglasses by raising awareness about vision impairment, conducting vision screenings, and selling highly subsidized eyeglasses in low-income communities.

Direct Donation: Via cross-sector partnerships, directly giving vision care and glasses to those in need. For example, in 2015, Warby Parker created Pupils Project, a program that works with local organizations and government agencies to give free vision screenings, eye exams, and glasses to schoolchildren. Warby Parker plans to distribute tens of thousands of pairs of glasses during the 2021-2022 school year alone.

Click HERE for the full press release.

SILMO dedicates a new area of expression to design students with the Optical Design Contest 2022.

The objective is to catalyse trends by stimulating and revealing the seeds that will blossom in tomorrow’s optical world. Through its visionary approach, SILMO offers students the opportunity to demonstrate their skills and highlight their conception of the optical and eyewear sphere while exploring its countless possibilities.

A panel made up of design professionals and interdisciplinary experts will gather in September 2022 to select the big winner. For this first edition of the Optical Design Contest, Emmanuel Gallina will have the honour of presiding the jury.

Design, creativity, innovation, product usage and functionality, the integration of a CSR approach, the intrinsic viability of the project… All these dimensions will be critical criteria.

A prize deserving of the challenge will be awarded to the winner of the competition at the next SILMO Paris trade fair, which will take place from September 23 to 26 at Paris Nord Villepinte. The winner and his or her school will share a cheque of 10,000 euros and will have the honour of having their designs exhibited throughout the event.

Click HERE for the full press release.

EssilorLuxottica announces the closing of its acquisition of U.S. based lab network Walman Optical, a leading lab partner to vision care practices around the country. First announced in March 2021, the acquisition will draw on EssilorLuxottica’s focus on product and service innovation to create growth opportunities for Walman Optical.

Source: EssilorLuxottica

EssilorLuxottica, GrandVision and Vision Group, one of the largest distribution networks for Italian opticians and a retail player under the VisionOttica banner, announced that the companies have completed the transaction for Vision Group to acquire the VistaSì chain in Italy, including the brand and all the 99 stores, and 75 GrandVision stores in the country.

This follows the commitments agreed upon with the European Commission on March 23, 2021, as part of the acquisition of GrandVision by EssilorLuxottica. EssilorLuxottica, GrandVision and Vision Group confirm that European Commission has approved the transaction.

Source: EssilorLuxottica