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New York, USA, March 2013 – Following the latest in eyewear industry research, Adlens® announces findings from consumer research highlighting the need for change in the optical industry.
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New York, USA, March 2013 – Following the latest in eyewear industry research, Adlens® announces findings from consumer research highlighting the need for change in the optical industry.
[img_assist|nid=409|title=Photo: Adlens®|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=250|height=188]The press conference, held in New York during Vision Expo East will be hosted by variable focus eyewear leaders, Adlens®. Adlens® CEO and Executive Chairman, Michael C Ferrara will introduce invited press to Annie Weber, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Public Affairs and Corporate Communications Group of GfK Custom Research of North America. Ms Weber will highlight the results of their research into consumer satisfaction with existing progressive lens options on the market.
GfK’s Public Affairs and Corporate Communications Group conducted interviews with a total of 1,802 adults aged 40 and older. The study was conducted using the KnowledgePanel, which assures representative samples that are statistically valid and projectable to the population of adults 40 and older. Currently, 71% of Americans in this age bracket wear prescription or progressive eyeglasses. This equates to approximately 103 million people. GfK has uncovered the following:
- Many Americans find themselves adjusting to their glasses, rather than the glasses adjusting to them
- At least 1 in 4 have considered switching from progressives but lack alternatives
- Approximately 30 million progressive wearers admit to frustrations and dissatisfaction with their progressive eyewear
- 29 million progressive lens wearers might switch if an alternative eyewear offered a solution for their problems
- 3.2 million people cannot adapt to progressives
At Adlens®, plans are underway to bring to market a new category of progressive lens: an adaptable, variable focus lens harnessing the best features of both a single vision lens and a progressive lens, for smooth, continuous focus across a wide range of distances. This technology addresses many of the common problems highlighted by the GfK study. It will provide full field of view across the entire lens, approximating the eye’s natural field of view in a way that progressives have never done before, radically improving vision comfort for aging wearers. Eyewear providers and vision care professionals must be advocates for the development of such technologies, to help ensure that lens innovations can ultimately be successfully – and readily – delivered to the consumer. The vision-care community has a watershed opportunity to benefit from innovation’s delivery of new consumer choices while advancing our shared mission of preserving and enhancing vision quality and comfort.
Adlens® Director of Industry Affairs, Dr. Graeme MacKenzie, comments: “The GfK research shows that the optical industry is doing a great job of supplying products that satisfy the needs of Americans. There is nevertheless a very large market that is actively looking for a lens technology that offers full field of view, like a single vision lens, at all distances. Adlens® is working on precisely this sort of lens technology and believes that it will prove a tremendous benefit to consumers and the industry alike.”
About Adlens®
Founded in 2005 in Oxford, UK, by Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist James Chen, Adlens® is the global leader in variable focus eyewear. Its highly skilled team of engineers, optometrists and design professionals has developed a completely new category of vision correction through three variable focus products: Emergensee™, Hemisphere® and The John Lennon™ Collection.
Based on the Alvarez lens technology, Emergensee™ is a brand of variable focus glasses designed for use as a temporary spare pair, instantly customisable for whoever is in need. They are an ideal solution for managing fluctuating vision after eye surgery as each lens can be adjusted to suit the patient’s needs.
Available in both optical and sunglasses, Hemisphere® is the world’s first complete range of variable focus prescription eyewear. Its Fluid-Injection lens technology provides instant vision correction and immediate dispensing.
Also based on Fluid-Injection technology is The John Lennon™ Collection. Inspired by John Lennon’s™ work, life and style, this collection features the distinctive round shaped glasses he is famous for.
Adlens® is a commercial business with a social soul: for every pair of Fluid-Injection glasses purchased the company donates a pair to someone in the developing world as part of its Buy One Give One programme. Distribution of the glasses is administered by Vision for a Nation®, a charitable foundation running an innovative programme to provide universal access to eyeglasses, one nation at a time, starting in Rwanda.
For further information:
Press Enquiries: ZED_COMM, Lucia Vaghi Tricarico, Corso San Gottardo 19, 20136 Milano (Italy)
Ph. +39 02 3655 0569, Fax +39 02 365 50872, Email: lucia@zedcomm.it
Ilaria Invernici, Corso San Gottardo 19, 20136 Milano (Italy)
Ph. +39 02 36550569, Fax +39 02 36550872, Email: ilaria@zedcomm.it
A wide selection of photography is available on request
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Watch our 3 minute film on YouTube.
GfK’s Public Affairs & Corporate Communications division specializes in customized public affairs and public opinion polling, communications research, and reputation measurement in the US and globally. The division also serves as the official polling partner of the Associated Press conducting the AP-GfK Poll
For further information about GfK, visit: www.gfk.com/us.