Celebrating optics and eyewear in a vibrant atmosphere, Silmo 2023 was an opportunity for EssilorLuxottica to unveil its latest innovations and eyewear collections. The Group’s breakthrough progressive lens innovation, Varilux XR series, was recognized with the prestigious Silmo d’Or award.

Silmo 2023, the second largest optical trade fair in Europe has wrapped up in Paris after featuring 1,500 brands and drawing close to 30,000 visitors during the four day event from Sep 29 – Oct 2. Silmo has become a global gathering of optical professionals, fashion enthusiasts and industry leaders. Serving as an ideal platform to showcase the wider industry’s innovation and future-gazing concepts, as well as its latest collections and innovations from across the Group. Some examples include Varilux XR series lens, which won the prestigious Silmo d’Or award in the ‘Vision’ category this year; Ray-Ban Reverse, Nikon’s Seemax and Presio Sports lenses, and Swarovski’s new Eyewear collection. Since its inception in 1994, the Silmo d'Or shines a spotlight on creativity and inventiveness in the optical and vision science research industry.

The EssilorLuxottica stand, which covered around 1,500 m² of exhibition space, featured various spaces dedicated to frames, lens, instruments and more. These include Shamir Optical’s technologies, Leonardo, Transitions, Oakley, a common bar lounge area as well as several shared meeting rooms. Here are some highlights from this year’s stand:

Varilux XR series lens

The Varilux team was proud to showcase Varilux XR series, the progressive lens that knows how your eyes really move for instant sharpness even in motion1. It is the new top range innovation which further reinforces Varilux’s position as the number #1 progressive lens brand worldwide2. This latest generation of progressive lenses goes beyond prescription and responds to the wearer’s visual behavior predicted by artificial intelligence (AI). Thanks to the analysis of more than 1 million exclusive real-life data, we can design a progressive lens that respects the natural eye bahavior of each wearer. The brand was proud to be recognized with the Silmo d’Or” award in the ‘Vision’ category for this latest innovation.

Ray-Ban Reverse

Ray-Ban, the Group’s iconic eyewear brand made waves at this year’s Silmo with its latest Reverse collection. It comprises four unisex sunglass styles featuring an impossible new lens, completely reversed, and in collaboration with famed Italian supermodel, Vittoria Ceretti, as the face of the campaign.

Swarovski Eyewear
Swarovski unveiled the fruit of its collaboration with the Group: forty-seven pairs of premium sunglasses and prescription glasses. Inspired by some of the brand’s most iconic jewelry families and designed under the creative direction of Swarovski’s Giovanna Engelbert, the new collection was crafted with Swarovski’s signature savoir-faire and mastery of light, cut, and color. From statement shapes and brilliantly faceted crystals to sleek metals and signature touches, each piece captures the bold and joyful elegance of Swarovski.

Nikon’s sports range

Nikon showcased its dedicated portfolio of lenses for sports enthusiasts. Some sports may require the participant to track a direction or an object like a ball or may even be determined by specific boundaries such as white lines and key markers. To meet these needs, the new Nikon sports range is divided into Seemax Sports (single vision) and Presio Sports (progressive) which cater to every sports environment, for both seasoned athletes and for those who are just starting out. Several shades are available depending on the sports activity. Nikon designed a color wheel, a tool to help opticians define with the wearer the optimal lens tint which will allow them to better perceive their environment and help enhance their sports performance.

Essilor Instruments’ new ES range

Essilor Instruments is one of the Group’s fastest-growing businesses, leading the development, manufacturing and distribution of solutions and services for eyecare professionals throughout the world. It provides a wide range of solutions and technologies including edging-mounting products, refraction equipment, diagnostic and imaging equipment as well as measuring solutions. At Silmo, a new workshop range was unveiled with the goal of facilitating the mounting procedure, improving the working environment and promoting the technical expertise and creativity of eyecare professionals. These include the TCB 800 automatic reader-centerer-blocker as well as three grinders: ES 700, ES 800 and ES 800M.

Shamir Optical’s Spark 4
Shamir Optical, a leading producer of high-performance lenses, showcased its latest lens measurement product, Spark 4, which promises increased efficiency, accuracy, and comfort for users and patients alike. Using a sophisticated electro-optic system and based on stereo vision 3D technology with six high resolution camera sensors, Spark 4 can detect patients’ pupils clearly though sunglasses and clear lenses as well as different coatings, in varying light conditions. The product also relies on its state-of-the-art artificial intelligence pupil detection which processes 192 facial landmarks, resulting in levels of accuracy never seen before. Spark 4 was nominated in the “Material/Equipment” category of this year’s Silmo d’Or award.

1 Varilux® XR series™ – in-life consumer study - Eurosyn – 2022 – France (n=73 progressive lens wearers)

2 Euromonitor International, 2022 data; Retail value amongst spectacle lenses category, brands representing progressive lenses