The Vision Council has released its latest consumer research, Focused inSights 2025: Smart Eyewear, which highlights the evolving awareness and attitudes toward smart eyewear among U.S. adults.
The report, based on responses from more than 4,000 participants, provides a benchmark of consumer sentiment and compares results with data from the Council’s 2023 smart eyewear study. While findings point to accelerating awareness and growing interest, they also underscore persistent challenges to broader adoption.
Key findings include:
Awareness on the rise – 58% of consumers say they know exactly what smart eyewear is or have a general idea, a sharp increase since 2023.
Favorable impressions – 56% reported a positive view of smart eyewear when presented with a definition that included features such as wireless connectivity, AI, translation, and audio.
Adoption and purchase intent – 14% of respondents said they have purchased smart eyewear, and 40% indicated they would consider buying in the next year.
Motivators vs. barriers – Curiosity (41%), perceived usefulness (39%), and entertainment value (37%) were the strongest drivers, while lack of a clear need (50%) and cost (41%) were the main deterrents.
Brand recognition – Familiarity is expanding, with Amazon Echo Frames and Ray-Ban Meta AI Glasses showing the greatest awareness gains.
Where consumers learn about products – YouTube (49%) and other social media platforms are the most common sources of information.
“Smart eyewear is certainly having a moment right now, with more consumers than ever showing interest in these products,” said Alysse Henkel, Vice President of Research & inSights at The Vision Council. “Our findings point to tangible opportunities for manufacturers and eyecare providers to align design, education, and dispensing with what consumers say matters most.”
Industry Discussion at Vision Expo West
Smart eyewear will be in focus at Vision Expo West2025, taking place September 17–20 at The Venetian Expo in Las Vegas. On September 19, The Vision Council will host a main stage panel, Smart Eyewear: Consumer Trends, ECP Perspectives & Market Momentum, featuring Henkel alongside practicing eyecare professionals. The session will explore how industry stakeholders can address consumer curiosity while preparing for practical integration into clinics and retail environments.
Focused inSights 2025: Smart Eyewear is available through The Vision Council’s Research Download Center. Members may access the report at no cost; non-members can purchase it for $3,000.
The report is part of The Vision Council’s ongoing inSights Research Program, which provides quarterly consumer surveys, special-topic reports, and an annual industry forecast.
Source: The Vision Council
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The 32nd SILMO d’Or brings together an inspiring lineup of companies whose creativity and technical achievements are shaping the future of eyewear. Here are this year’s nominees.
CHILDREN JULBO with « Intensity Junior », FR LOOKKINO with « Lookkino Tri-X », IT MANTI MANTI with « 3D Collection », GER MINIMA with « BB HYBRID-1 CB3 », FR OPAL with « DSAA084C64 » – Spiderman, FR
SPORT EVIL EYE EYEWEAR with « Speedsense », AUT JULBO with « LIRY », FR OUT OF with « Bot 3 », IT SAFILO with « CA Transforma » – Carrera, IT TAG HEUER with «TAG HEUER SHIELD PRO», FR
VISION
ESSILORLUXOTTICA with « Stellest 2.0 », FR NIKON VERRES OPTIQUES with « Z Suite Progressifs », FR Le Laboratoire Français de LESA with « TriNova », FR RODENSTOCK with « B.I.G EXACT Sensitive », GER SWISSCOAT with « Color Digital Box », CH
MATERIAL / EQUIPMENT
ACEP with « Smart Mirror AI », FR LYLEOO with « Solution de téléexpertise », FR MEI with « 4D Trace, The Perfect Fit System », IT OPHTALMIC COMPAGNIE with « RK Datalens », FR TOPCON with « Chronos SightPilotTM NAVi », JPN
TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION IN EYEWEAR
GOODVISION with « Goodvision Glasses », FR OBE with « Flowlink », ALL ØGREEN OPTICS with « Storm Signal », DK QEDEYEWEAR with « Phi », CAN REGENESIS with « Carbonite » SGP
SMART EYEWEAR
ESSILORLUXOTTICA with « Oakley Meta », IT ESSILORLUXOTTICA with « Nuance Audio », IT PACIFIC GROUP with « Sports AI Glasses with Prescription» – Frezz Bleequp, FR SOLOS with « Solos AirGo™ A5 Audio AI Smartglasses », HK XOCCHIALI with « Xocchiali Smart Eyewear », SE
OPTICAL FRAME “LABELS”
DE RIGO with « P8791 – COLOR D » – Porsche Design, IT SAFILO with « 0107 » – Etro, IT SEAPORT ODLM with « Othilia 02 » – Vanessa Bruno, FR STEVE MCQUEEN EYEWEAR with « Sebring », FR TAG HEUER with « Line », FR
SUNGLASSES“LABELS”
COMO with « YYSUN502 » – Yohji Yamamoto, JPN GROSFILLEY with « Jane » – Azzaro, FR MARCHON with « SF333SR » – Ferragamo, USA SEAPORT ODLM with « Lucile02 » – Ba&Sh, FR ADCL with « BOLD SD5022 101 » – Sandro Homme, FR
SUNGLASSES “EYEWEAR DESIGNER” ALBERT DUVAL with « XC7 – NUIT », FR BRETT EYEWEAR with « SPEC.01 », FR DESIGN EYEWEAR GROUP with « Super Tactic » – Woow, DK DESIGN EYEWEAR GROUP with « Flare » – Face à Face, DK RES REI EYEWEAR with « Nocturne B94 », IT
OPTICAL FRAME “EYEWEAR DESIGNER”
VICTOIRE D’AQUI with « Clem / Galaxie », FR ATELIER ARTHUR SARDO with « Rotative Upside-Down », FR DZMITRY SAMAL with « Luc », FR YOSHINORI AOYAMA with « YA-002 », JPN LUCAS DE STAEL with « Zeppelin 27 », FR
SUNGLASSES “EYEWEAR MAKER”
BLACKFIN with « Aero Loop Infinity », IT FABOOR with « Edge 01-M1 », IT MINIMA with « MINIMA-5 CRYSTAL », FR PIERO MASSARO with « Tramonti di pietra », IT PLEIN LES MIRETTES with « Hommage – Back To Art », FR
OPTICAL FRAME “EYEWEAR MAKER”
LUNETTERIE DU JURA with « Yasmine » – Cazo, FR MARKUS T with « MIO P1055 », GER ROLF EYEWEAR with « Premiere », AUT VANNI with « Extra », IT VUILLET VEGA with « Sign² 168 », FR
New consumer research from Contact Lens Institute™ (CLI) indicates substantial opportunity for increased contact lens adoption by Gen Z, as well as identifying purchase drivers that the eye care community can employ to encourage use. The data indicates an eight percent difference in Gen Z contact lens wear (35%) compared to Millennials (43%), with Gen X (22%) close to historic norms.
The findings—which will be the focus of a main stage panel at Vision Expo West this week—provide a sneak peek at expansive cross-generational insights in development as part of CLI’s See Tomorrow initiative. CLI surveyed 1,308 vision corrected respondents in the U.S. and Canada during July and August 2025 across three generations: Gen Z (ages 15-28), Millennials (ages 29-44), and Gen X (ages 45-60).
“Since 2021, our See Tomorrow program has given the eye care community unique information and perspectives to help grow contact lens prescribing. To our knowledge, never before has work of this scale been conducted for contact lenses that also has implications for the entire eye care sector,” said Stan Rogaski, CLI’s executive director. “The takeaways can influence how practice teams and retailers shape their communications with current and potential patients alike. For instance, personal mindsets of Gen X owners or Millennial managers may not always align with the Gen Z customer, prompting new approaches.”
Gen Z Upside
Millennial reporting of significant contact lens wear (43%) paints a picture of what may be possible with Gen Z; the eight-point gap represents considerable unmet upside in patient volumes, practice revenue, and wearer lifestyle benefits. So too does another measure, which indicated that among dual wearers (i.e., patients who use both glasses and contact lenses), Millennials use their contact lenses seven percent more often than Gen Z (52% to 45%, respectively).
Beyond statistically significant differences that show Millennials appreciating contact lenses’ comfort and ease of use more than Gen Z, pandemic-influenced short-term changes in practice visit frequency and prescribing may have had a greater long-term impact on a younger population. Reasoning for the variation will be more deeply explored in follow-up reports as data continues to be analyzed.
Distinct Purchase Drivers
In an attempt to understand how Gen Z may be distinctive from older populations when it comes to choosing a product or service, CLI asked respondents to indicate the importance of eight values-centered factors in their decision-making, whether for eye care or otherwise.
The three values ranked highest across all ages: affordability (85-89%), convenience of purchase (69-73%), and speed to obtain the product (66-71%). This infers that the eye care community should continue to optimize for these, knowing they’ll be received positively by the vast majority of patients and customers.
However, four values demonstrated higher influence among Gen Z and Millennials versus Gen X: brand authenticity (Z: 63%, M: 63%, X: 54%), individual expression and personalization opportunities (Z: 58%, M: 55%, X: 45%), brand social responsibility (Z: 51%, M: 47%, X: 33%), and living for today (Z: 48%, M: 48%, X: 39%). All four present areas for practices to tailor their communications and marketing activities to better engage younger populations.
The Importance of Social Responsibility
During Vision Expo West, CLI is diving deeper on the social responsibility factor, since it exhibited the greatest variability between Gen Z and Gen X—an 18-point span. The CLI survey asked all respondents about the importance of particular social values on their choice of eye care practice and eye care products, revealing multiple opportunities for the eye care community to lean into existing and new initiatives.
When it comes to choosing eye care practices, about one in two Gen Z respondents said that inclusive culture (52%), environmental responsibility (49%), and doctor diversity (47%) were extremely or very important, with staff diversity, philanthropic initiatives, and community involvement ranking slightly lower (43%, 42%, and 42%, respectively).
For eye care products, environmental/sustainability (46%), inclusivity (44%), and diversity (43%) initiatives ranked highest, followed by social justice (40%) and philanthropic initiatives (39%).
While Millennial responses generally mirrored Gen Z, although to a slightly lesser extent, Gen X responses hovered from the mid-20% to low 30% range.
“Gen Z is known for being more socially connected than their older peers, and our research suggests that this also affects how they make eye care decisions. In many cases, practices and brands can amplify existing programs and efforts to highlight this shared value. At the same time, they should realize that these social values may not resonate as much with Gen X, so communication with older consumers may need to focus on other factors,” said Rogaski.
The Main Stage at Vision Expo West
Four CLI Visionaries will take to the Vision Expo West main stage on Thursday, September 18, from 2:30 – 3 pm PT to discuss the initial findings. Shifting Focus: How the Next Generation Sees Contact Lens Wear and Eye Care features Harbir Sian, OD, the co-owner of Clarity Eyecare and Highstreet Eyecare Center in Vancouver, B.C., Jenn Seymour, LDO, NCLE-AC, ABO-AC, president of the Opticians Association of Nevada; Andrew Bruce, LDO, ABOM, NCLEM, FCLSA, the founder of ASB Opticianry Education Services in Vancouver, Wash.; and Jade Coats, OD, FAAO, the 2025 Theia Awards of Excellence Young OD of the Year co-honoree.
The panel will double as a taping for The 20/20 Podcast, hosted by Dr. Sian, with the episode to air in the coming weeks.
CLI expects to release additional data from the cross-generational survey for the American Academy of Optometry annual meeting in mid-October, followed by publication of a comprehensive report in November.
A bold fusion of fashion and function, model SF323SG colour 751 – Deep Gold features an aviator-style silhouette with an integrated prism hinge. Gently curved lenses are accented by linear motifs along the gold-tone temples and borders, while Ferragamo’s iconic Gancini pattern adds unmistakable elegance across the amber-tinted visor.
Working with leading brands to constantly push the envelope through distinct designs, innovative materials and clever constructions, Marchon Eyewear’s goal is to consistently design distinctive eyewear that offers accessible quality, style and value.
Marchon is proud of its diversified portfolio of brands, covering key demand segments in the premium end of the market.
Marchon Eyewear distributes its products through a global network of subsidiaries and distributors, serving over 80,000 accounts in more than 100 countries.
Whether helping people access quality care, supporting eye care providers in managing their practice, or partnering with local organizations to aid our communities, VSP Vision™ is there with a comprehensive portfolio of brands that keep health at the center of everything we do. As the first not-for-profit eye health company, care and compassion have led our growth for nearly 70 years. Today, our focus remains on helping those we serve bring their best vision to life.
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French eyewear brand J.F. Rey is celebrating its 40th anniversary, reaffirming the values that have defined its journey: independent creativity, excellence in craftsmanship, and a bold, unmistakable style that has become a global eyewear icon.
From its beginnings, J.F. Rey has embraced a singular vision—free from convention and unapologetically daring. Four decades later, that spirit continues to drive the brand’s innovation and shape its identity. The latest anniversary collection represents the culmination of this creative heritage, designed to resonate with today’s high-end market while staying true to its roots.
The new collection spans men’s, women’s, optical, and sun lines, each with a distinct personality defined by signature aesthetics and exclusive technologies. The designs balance technical mastery and striking visual identity, offering a fresh evolution of J.F. Rey’s iconic forms.
Among the highlights:
SLEDGE series – A showcase of masculine excellence, with bold lines, uncompromising strength, and patented screwless hinges.
Women’s models – More sensitive, accessible, and versatile, featuring gradient effects that introduce a fresh chromatic signature for the season.
CARBON INSIDE line – A creative breakthrough with unprecedented coloring of select wood veneers, blending natural materials with avant-garde design.
Color remains central to the brand’s DNA, with deep autumnal shades, metallic effects, and original contrasts adding richness and depth to the collection.
JF Rey JF3126-9843JF Rey JF3114-4355JF Rey JF3135-0098
J.F. Rey will present the collection at SILMO Paris (Hall 7 – Booth C129).
Vision Expo 2026 launches its Call for NEW initiative, spotlighting product debuts, technologies and innovations ahead of the unified annual event in Orlando.
EssilorLuxottica joins forces with Fondazione Chips-IT to accelerate smart-eyewear innovation through next-generation chip design, open-hardware collaboration and advanced wearable technologies.
J.F. Rey launches its new Women’s Collection with 11 shapes and 55 colours, showcasing exceptional craftsmanship, bold design and masterful colour innovation.
opti 2026 is spotlighting two major growth drivers: TOMORROW VISION, a high-energy innovation platform for contact lenses, and opti SPHEARE, a new experiential centre for hearing care.
EssilorLuxottica has introduced Essilor® Stellest® 2.0 lenses in Canada, offering stronger efficacy and enhanced design features for childhood myopia management.
Vision Expo 2026 launches its Call for NEW initiative, spotlighting product debuts, technologies and innovations ahead of the unified annual event in Orlando.
EssilorLuxottica joins forces with Fondazione Chips-IT to accelerate smart-eyewear innovation through next-generation chip design, open-hardware collaboration and advanced wearable technologies.
J.F. Rey launches its new Women’s Collection with 11 shapes and 55 colours, showcasing exceptional craftsmanship, bold design and masterful colour innovation.
opti 2026 is spotlighting two major growth drivers: TOMORROW VISION, a high-energy innovation platform for contact lenses, and opti SPHEARE, a new experiential centre for hearing care.
EssilorLuxottica has introduced Essilor® Stellest® 2.0 lenses in Canada, offering stronger efficacy and enhanced design features for childhood myopia management.
Vision Expo 2026 launches its Call for NEW initiative, spotlighting product debuts, technologies and innovations ahead of the unified annual event in Orlando.
EssilorLuxottica joins forces with Fondazione Chips-IT to accelerate smart-eyewear innovation through next-generation chip design, open-hardware collaboration and advanced wearable technologies.
J.F. Rey launches its new Women’s Collection with 11 shapes and 55 colours, showcasing exceptional craftsmanship, bold design and masterful colour innovation.
opti 2026 is spotlighting two major growth drivers: TOMORROW VISION, a high-energy innovation platform for contact lenses, and opti SPHEARE, a new experiential centre for hearing care.
EssilorLuxottica has introduced Essilor® Stellest® 2.0 lenses in Canada, offering stronger efficacy and enhanced design features for childhood myopia management.
Vision Expo 2026 launches its Call for NEW initiative, spotlighting product debuts, technologies and innovations ahead of the unified annual event in Orlando.
EssilorLuxottica joins forces with Fondazione Chips-IT to accelerate smart-eyewear innovation through next-generation chip design, open-hardware collaboration and advanced wearable technologies.
J.F. Rey launches its new Women’s Collection with 11 shapes and 55 colours, showcasing exceptional craftsmanship, bold design and masterful colour innovation.
opti 2026 is spotlighting two major growth drivers: TOMORROW VISION, a high-energy innovation platform for contact lenses, and opti SPHEARE, a new experiential centre for hearing care.
EssilorLuxottica has introduced Essilor® Stellest® 2.0 lenses in Canada, offering stronger efficacy and enhanced design features for childhood myopia management.
