Articles for January, 2010

Ray-Ban Sunglasses Craft:  Tooled to Perfection

Luxottica Group introduces Ray-Ban Craft, a new interpretation of Ray-Ban’s iconic Outdoorsman, Caravan and Wings models—adding a luxurious touch to these three restyled metals—the top bar and temple tips are covered with soft hand-sewn leather. The popular Caravan with its squared lenses is offered in five color variations: pink leather with pink gradient lenses, gray with gray polarized or gradient lenses, black with gray-green lenses, white with blue mirrored lenses and brown with brown gradient or polarized lenses. The new version of the historic Outdoorsman, an aviator which made its debut in 1938, comes in black with gray-green lenses, black with black lenses, white with gray lenses, red with pink gradient lenses, tan with green lenses, brown with brown lenses and blue with gray-blue gradient lenses. Wings, a shield design, is available in tan with orange lenses, white with gray mirrored lenses, black with gray-green lenses and red with orange mirrored lenses.

PHILOSOPHY: “Ray-Ban, founded in 1937, is known not only for its timeless design, but also for its ability to refresh and revamp its styles,” says Victor Melendez, Luxottica Group vice president of marketing. “Focusing on craftsmanship, luxury and Ray-Ban’s rich heritage, this collection is a celebration of Ray-Ban’s brilliant legacy.”
As with all of Ray-Ban’s latest collections, color plays a key role. The top bar, temple tips and lenses are offered in an array of coordinated hues. --Reprinted from 20/20 Magazine with permission from Jobson Publishing.

Celebrity Sunglasses, Celebrity Eyeglasses

Coming Soon to a Theater Near You » Julia Roberts (1) wears Luxottica frames during the filming of her new movie “Eat, Pray, Love,” which is set to be released in July. She wears Persol PO2873S (Link: Persol PO2873S Sunglasses) and Ray-Ban RB3136… (Link: Ray-Ban RB3136 Sunglasses)

Spice Girl » Marcia Cross (2) of “Desperate Housewives” was spotted wearing Jee Vice’s Spicy shades while spending a weekend afternoon out with her family in Los Angeles…

Musically Inclined »  Sàfilo USA and the Solstice sunglass boutique made the recent American Music Awards a shady place. Showing off their new sunwear are: singer Paula Abdul (3) (late of “American Idol”) in Marc Jacobs MJ311S (Link: Marc Jacobs Eyewear); actor Seth Green (4), who hosted the awards, in Alexander McQueen 4108S; nominees for country breakthrough artist, Gloriana members Mike Gossin (5) in Carrera Master2/S and Tom Gossin (6) in Marc Jacobs 279S; and musician Zac Brown (7) of the Zac Brown Band, which was nominated for numerous awards including favorite country band and breakthrough artist, in Armani Exchange AX155S…

All My Eyewear » Soap star Susan Lucci (8) in Revlon RV558 (Link: Revlon RV558 Glasses) from Altair…

True Champion » Lady Gaga (9) wears the Carrera Champion from Sàfilo in her new music video “Bad Romance,” which is the first single off her new album “The Fame Monster”…

Coupling » Luxottica went on retreat thanks to some product placement in the movie “Couples Retreat.” Kristin Davis (10) wears the Ray-Ban Wayfarer style RB2140 color 966 (Link: Ray-Ban Wayfarer RB2140 Sunglasses).

Shady Lady » Katie Holmes (11) in Vogue style 3676 (Link: Vogue 3676 Sunglasses) from Luxottica…

Teen Wolf » Taylor Lautner (12), who plays Jacob Black in the latest Twilight saga movie: “New Moon,” sports Carrera Jocker sunglasses from Sàfilo…

Up Keep » Reality star Kim Kardashian (13) of MTV’s “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” in Sean John SJ515S from Marchon.

—Jackie Micucci.  Article reprinted from 20/20 Magazine with permission from Jobson Pubishing.

 

Street Seen

Photographed by Christie Walker

Cancun Can: Thanks to Christie Walker, our world class sun-tracker, for proving that nowhere can sun trends tan and stand stronger than in Cancun. Yucatán too by following these simple sunwear trends: Aviators (with brown or reddish lenses), Shields with lens-surface logo dimples, severe rimless rectangles and Wayfarers, easily sunwear’s ultimate style statement. Next month? Cancun Too!   

—James J. Spina.  Article reprinted from 20/20 Magazine with permission from Jobson Pubishing.

VSP MOBILE EYECARE CLINIC VISITS SANTINELLI INTERNATIONAL
The new VSP mobile eyecare clinic visited the offices of Santinelli International on Friday, September 17. The mobile clinic, nicknamed “Eyenstein,” contains a full-service, comprehensive eye exam room, a full eyewear dispensary and a state-of-the-art lens finishing lab donated by Santinelli International. It produces and distributes customized eyeglasses to serve communities in need. (Article reprinted with permission from Jobson Publishing at 20/20 Lenses & Technology. By Andrew Karp.)

Mobile clinic staffers, Niki Myers and Gilbert Melgoza, conducted the tours for each of the small groups that climbed aboard for a full demonstration of the entire process from eye exam to finished glasses.

Franco Aluigi, Santinelli International’s product manager, was instrumental in the design phase of the mobile clinic’s compact lab. Mr. Aluigi noted, “It was wonderful to be a part of the development of this incredible unit which benefits so many who are in need. To see ‘Eyenstein’ in person was a great experience—it looks better than I could have imagined!”

The mobile eyecare clinic partnership and initiative will provide charitable eyecare services and educational outreach to underserved children and adults throughout the country for at least the next five years.


TRANSITIONS PROMOTES EYE HEALTH WORLDWIDE AT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
Transitions Optical supported the promotion of eye health worldwide through a major sponsorship of the sixth annual World Conference on
Optometric Education and second annual World Congress on Refractive Error conference, held consecutively, September 20 to 24 in Durban, South Africa. The two conferences facilitated sharing of best practices from around the world to help address the global burden of uncorrected refractive error and to support the progression of optometric education.

In addition to financial support provided through the sponsorship, Transitions played an active role by supplying speakers to bring specific eye health issues into focus for attendees, including an estimated 600 optometric and development professionals, and 250 optometric educators from around the globe.

Transitions provided two speakers for the Research and Innovation portion of the program. Peter Kehoe, OD, professional relations advisor to Transitions, spoke on the importance of UV protection, while Paul Berman, OD, provided a lecture on sports vision. Transitions also offered information on its European school outreach program at its booth.

“As a global company, Transitions Optical is not only interested in furthering eye care and supporting current and future educators worldwide, we have access to success stories from around the globe related to several eye health issues, such as promoting the need for UV protection, especially for children,” said Dr. Kehoe. “These conferences provided an excellent opportunity to share our knowledge and be part of a strong worldwide commitment to furthering eye health.”

VISION-EASE JOINS INFORMATIONWEEK 500 LIST
Vision-Ease Lens was named for the first-time to this year’s InformationWeek 500 list, an annual ranking of the nation’s most innovative users of business technology. Vision-Ease is ranked at 168 out of 500.

“Being named to the 2010 InformationWeek 500 list is great external validation that our efforts over the last year to improve processes for Vision-Ease were on track,” said Flo Kinzel, global IT leader for Vision-Ease. “The project was a significant undertaking and our department is looking forward to continually evolving the intranet site to meet our changing company-wide needs.”

As part of a larger, company-wide technology upgrade, VEL’s IT department developed an architecture for a Microsoft SharePoint-based intranet system. Dubbed “Lenny,” the new system houses frequently-accessed forms, employee handbook and human resources information, and operational tools, as well as project development and roll-out management tools. “Operationally, the new Lenny site has made day-to-day operations, such as employee communications and document workflow, much more efficient,” said Cindy Mark, VP supply chain.

The InformationWeek 500 ranking spotlights the power of innovation in information technology.