Charenton-le-Pont, France (October 8, 2020) – To mark the 20th anniversary of World Sight Day on October 8, EssilorLuxottica is deploying numerous initiatives across the world, accelerating its efforts to raise awareness around the importance of eye care. By educating consumers while improving access to eyewear and eye exams in underserved regions, EssilorLuxottica reinforces its mission ‘to help people see more, be more and live life to its fullest’.

As a leading advocate for the vision cause, EssilorLuxottica is doubling its efforts on World Sight Day, despite the obstacles that make it much more challenging to run programs on the ground due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Today on World Sight Day, we celebrate the very purpose of EssilorLuxottica and its founding mission of helping people see more, be more and live life to its fullest. The wide range of activities deployed by our teams today to reach millions of people is a testament to the dedication of our people to bring this mission to life every day. It also showcases the incredible impact we can have together, and the full potential we will be able to deploy as one single company going forward," commented Paul du Saillant, CEO of Essilor, and Francesco Milleri, Vice-Chairman and CEO of Luxottica.

Raising awareness globally

Both Essilor and Luxottica have launched global awareness campaigns that will engage employees and reach millions of consumers all over the world.

Essilor rolled out a worldwide campaign to promote consumer awareness around blue-violet light and UV rays exposure, the need for regular vision screening and the use of appropriate eyewear for indoors and outdoors. As an important element of this digital campaign, Essilor has revamped its dedicated website www.putvisionfirst.com for consumers. Available in 11 languages, it features educational information around light exposure and eye protection and offers screening tests suitable for mobile devices.

In parallel, Luxottica's optical retail brands, including LensCrafters in North America, Salmoiraghi & Viganò in Italy and OPSM in Australia, will join forces in the Your Eyes First campaign. The long-term goal is to emphasize the importance of eye care over time by creating important art collaborations and illustrations on the subject that can be enjoyed and shared in the physical and digital worlds. The art pieces will be applied to commonly used objects in the stores, from shopping bags to cleaning kits for glasses, making the message even more visible to all.

Joining forces to reach remote areas

For the first time, Essilor and Luxottica jointly launched a customer-facing fundraising campaign, leveraging the network of approximately 60 LensCrafters stores in China. The aim is to offer free eye screenings to more than 10,000 children living in Chenduo County, on the Tibetan plateau, where the high altitude, strong ultraviolet light and lack of eye care education have posed serious and challenging vision issues for the local population.

Customized initiatives to fit local needs

In India, Essilor Vision Foundation (EVF) partnered with eye care hospitals to conduct free vision screening camps for around 4,000 underprivileged individuals. In the US, Essilor subsidiary FGX International, leading designer and marketer of non-prescription reading glasses and sunglasses, collaborated with Swiss-born American actress, Kat Graham, who will be pledging her support of World Sight Day with posts on her social media platforms promoting eye health as a priority amongst millions of people.

In Italy, all Salmoiraghi & Viganò customers who purchase a pair of prescription glasses will be refunded for the price of their visit to the eye doctor through the “Bonus Prevenzione” until November 1, 2020.

Essilor and Luxottica employees will also have the chance to work together on different eye care-centric initiatives, including the set-up of a temporary clinic to provide eyewear to people in need in South Africa and awareness-raising campaigns in China on the impact of UV and blue light.

Supporting OneSight

The Company’s partnership with OneSight, the independent non-profit organization founded and sponsored by Luxottica, will be reinforced on World Sight Day. Together they will build awareness around OneSight’s free digital book titled Through the Looking Glasses. Portions of the book, with over 30 stories and illustrations by international authors about the importance of seeing clearly, will be read aloud by celebrities in an online event called Bedtime Stories on October 8, and videos of the readings will be aired in 10 different time zones around bedtime across the globe. To participate in the Bedtime Stories event and download the free book visit www.onesight.org/worldsightday .

Since July, LensCrafters has also been collaborating with OneSight to support local communities most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, providing complete eye exams and eyewear for thousands of people in need across North America.

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