Fabris Lane has halted the roll-out of its optical frame collections to independent opticians after just six weeks.
The firm is withdrawing from practitioner promotion to independents and has laid off the newly appointed optical sales manager Sean Collins and the sales force employed to develop the independent market.
A statement from the firm said the market had not been as receptive as it had hoped and that it would wait until economic conditions were more stable. Tim Downes, Fabris Lane managing director, said: 'We entered the independent market and looked forward to opening new accounts throughout the country with our mid-market design-led product. Sadly, the market is not as receptive as we had hoped it would be at this time for new labels.'
Collins, who was used as the figurehead for the independent optical push by Fabris Lane, said he was disappointed by the decision. The sales force had been out on the road since mid-March and had made strong progress in a short period of time.
'They have signed significant accounts,' he added, 'and had full appointment books for May. They only gave them six weeks, I was completely incredulous. I went in there with a clear vision and we were getting there more quickly than we could have expected.'
Collins said he wanted to champion the cause of the independent. 'I believed in it, as did the sales force, but the company didn't have the nerve to see it through.'
Fabris Lane said when the economy recovered it would look at the situation again and that the accounts signed up would be looked after by its key account manager, Carl Branigan.