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March 10, 2021March 10, 2021

Optometry Giving Sight Launches 2021 Grant Funding Cycle

Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) launches its 2021 grant funding cycle with opportunities in both the spring and fall. North American nonprofit organizations and international charities who meet the criteria can begin applying today. OGS funds organizations that focus on the following:

Provide education for eye care professionals
Establish or support optometry schools, eye clinics, vision centres and optical labs
Deliver eye exams and low or no-cost glasses to underserved or marginalized populations

Spring round of funding timeline:

March 4: Online application process is open
April 15: Application deadline (Midnight Central Time)
May 31: Applicants informed of funding decisions

The range of awards is based on the project with a maximum award of $100,000 USD. Acceptance is contingent upon the amount of funding available and the number of proposals received. A second round of grantmaking will take place in the fall. The application process will open August 15.

The funding guidelines and application can be found here.

Click HERE for the full press release.

Safilo to Use Eastman’s Sustainable Materials in Its Eyewear Collections Starting SS22

Safilo announces the introduction of Eastman Acetate Renew and Eastman Tritan™ Renew in its sunglass and optical products. Both products are part of a broad portfolio of sustainable resins now offered at scale by Eastman, a global specialty materials provider and pioneer in molecular recycling.

Safilo will debut Eastman Tritan™ Renew with its proprietary brand Polaroid in January 2022. The two innovative materials will be progressively rolled out across Safilo’s broad brand portfolio, both for sun and for optical frames.

“It is so important nowadays to act responsibly and to consider the social and environmental impacts of our business,” – declared Angelo Trocchia, CEO of Safilo Group. “We are committed to leading the way in our approach to our products and packaging without using new resources and without compromising the quality of our frames.”

“By using both Eastman Tritan™ Renew and Eastman Acetate Renew, Safilo can provide their consumers and their licensors with a variety of differentiated options that meet their high standards for both design and sustainability” – said Glenn Goldman, Commercial Director, Eastman Specialty Plastics.

Eastman Tritan™ Renew is a high performance copolyester made of 50% certified recycled content. Safilo will be the first eyewear player to introduce this renewable material in its product offer.

Eastman Acetate Renew is composed of 60% bio-based and 40% certified recycled content.

Produced via Eastman’s innovative Advanced Circular Recycling technologies, these new products are made from waste plastic and, as such, reduce consumption of fossil resources, and have significantly lower greenhouse gas footprints than traditional eyewear materials.

Click HERE for the full press release.

March 4, 2021March 4, 2021

Optometry Giving Sight Welcomes Hoya Vision Care Canada as a National Partner

Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) announces that Hoya Vision Care has become a National Partner in Canada. Hoya has held several successful past fundraising events for OGS’s fall World Sight Day Challenge campaign and are now increasing their commitment to year-round support.

“I am delighted that Hoya Vision Care Canada is stepping up their support to further help people in underserved communities gain access to the eye health and vision care services they need,” said Anne Marie Hand, OGS’s Executive Director of North America.

“We are proud to partner with Optometry Giving Sight to be a part of the initiatives that help underserved communities,” said Bernard Lecavalier, Interim President of Hoya Vision Care Canada. “It is not by choice that people require vision correction, and if we can help to administer programs and initiatives through our support, then we are headed in the right direction.”

OGS funds the development of accessible and sustainable eye and vision care projects in communities where either they do not exist, or they are in need of support. OGS has supported projects around the globe in over 40 countries since the mid-2000s.

Click HERE for the full press release.

March 4, 2021May 20, 2026

American Optical Relaunches with Historic Styles

Known for its heritage and quality, American Optical’s eyewear division pioneered metal eyewear manufacturing in the US, dating back to 1833. As the first sunglasses on the moon and a favourite of JFK, American Optical has long been known for their innovation, quality, and iconic sunwear. The 2020 relaunched collection celebrates AO’s most impactful styles – the Original Pilot^TM, the General, and the Saratoga, all made in Illinois, using the finest globally sourced materials.

Featured model: Saratoga

www.europaeyewear.ca

March 3, 2021November 13, 2025

CRISPR: Making the Cut to Restore Vision

CRISPR (also known as CRISPR-Cas9) is a gene editing technique that allows scientists to cut DNA very precisely. It’s like a pair of molecular scissors that can be used to cut mutations out, or add new pieces of DNA into a gene. The importance of this tool was
highlighted in October 2020 when Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier (Max Planck, Berlin) and Dr. Jennifer Doudna (University of California, Berkeley) were awarded the 2020 Nobel prize in Chemistry for this discovery.

CRISPR is actually a natural part of a bacteria’s immune system. It was discovered by Dr. Charpentier in 2011 and soon after, working with Dr. Doudna, showed that it could be used to cut any piece of DNA very precisely and at specific sites.

It has been less than 10 years since its discovery but CRISPR has already had a huge impact on biomedical science and is the basis of new treatments being developed and tested in clinical trials for many diseases including cancer and blinding eye diseases. For example, a CRISPR-based treatment is being tested in a clinical trial for Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), an inherited retinal disease (IRD) that causes sever vision loss at birth. There are other potential treatments in development for IRDs and other eye diseases such as glaucoma as the study below explains.

Optometry Giving Sight Launches 2021 Grant Funding Cycle

Safilo to Use Eastman’s Sustainable Materials in Its Eyewear Collections Starting SS22

Optometry Giving Sight Welcomes Hoya Vision Care Canada as a National Partner

American Optical Relaunches with Historic Styles

CRISPR: Making the Cut to Restore Vision

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