In the last knockings of 2022, there were two interesting acquisitions that summed up both the present and the future of the optical industry.
De Rigo’s acquisition of Rodenstock’s eyewear division would have undoubtedly raised a few eyebrows, but the signs have been there for a while. The Germany company has gradually moved away from licenced eyewear over the past decade, leaving its own Rodenstock and the jewel in the crown that is Porsche Design. This gradual shift in focus reflects where Rodenstock wants to position itself – as a med-tech supplier that’s more Carl Zeiss than Karl Lagerfeld. For De Rigo, the purchase represents a chance for growth in an under-served territory and an opportunity to strengthen the sales network. Both parties will be happy, but one will feel happier than the other.
This sort of deal has typified recent years in the optical industry, and while it works for the accountants and investors, it restricts choice for customers and often dilutes the very things that made companies an attractive proposition – spirit and soul.
Meta’s (that’s Facebook if you’re a luddite like me) proposed acquisition of Dutch prescription lens producer Luxexcel offers a glimpse of where acquisitions, and indeed the direction of travel in the optical industry, are going. Now, Netherlands-based Luxexcel isn’t any old lens producer. Since 2009, the company has been 3D printing ophthalmic lenses and, while the product was never going to be a mass-market, there was significant opportunity for specialist lenses and complicated prescriptions. More recently, the company set its sights on the burgeoning augmented reality eyewear sector, thanks to the ability to introduce LCD and hologram technology inside the lens as it’s produced.
It’s hard to look at such a tech-buyout and see a company like Luxexcel that was so invested in working towards a genuine problem-solving optical product, now seemingly going the way of altered reality and Facebook’s metaverse.
