CHARENTON-LE-PONT, France and PADUA, Italy— Essilor (ESSI:PA) and Safilo (SFL:BrsaItaliana) have signed a 10-year licensing agreement for the design, manufacture and worldwide distribution by Essilor of polarized ophthalmic lenses under the Polaroid brand for use with eyewear products in general, a move that is in line with Essilor recent initiatives to promote sun and UV protection.

Essilor is convinced that there is an important need to raise awareness of eyecare professionals and consumers on the need to protect their eyes from the sun and UV hazards and promote all solutions available, amongst which are sun prescription and polarized lenses, the company said in a statement.

Hubert Sagnieres, chairman and CEO of Essilor, commented, “We are delighted to team up with Safilo for the worldwide development and promotion of Polaroid’s lenses. The strength of the Polaroid brand is a key lever in drawing people's attention on the importance of protecting their eyes from the sun and in growing the polarized category within the mainstream consumer segment. This new collaboration will allow us to bring together Essilor’s strong know-how and leadership in ophthalmic lenses with Polaroid’s strong recognition on polarization.”

Roberto Vedovotto, CEO of Safilo Group, said, “We are very proud to start this long-term partnership with Essilor, a Group that has been driven by innovation in the development of lenses for more than 160 years. We consider this project an extraordinary opportunity for Polaroid not only to confirm its credibility and worthiness as a reference brand for the protection and improvement of eyesight, but also to extend its application to eyesight correction, in order to always offer consumers throughout the world best-in-class products.” 

Although consumer satisfaction on polarized lenses is very high, the market only represents 20 percent of the total sun market in the world today, according to Essilor.