ESA, EUROM and The Vision Council at Mido 2012

A joint meeting to share and discuss their main interest in common: vision wellbeing On March 12, ESA - the European Sunglasses Association – in collaboration with EUROM and The Vision Council (VCA) – held a joint meeting at MIDO. The main exponents of each organization were present at the meeting which also hosted the Hong Kong Optical Manufacturers Association and some of the major trade publications.   EUROM president Vittorio Tabacchi opened the meeting by underscoring the importance of uniting the three associations in a single context. "It gives me great pleasure to see how these delegations from different parts of the world share the purpose of protecting eye health and have come here to talk about their activities in their respective countries", Tabacchi said. "Sunglasses should not be seen simply as a trendy accessory but also, and more importantly, as a tool for protecting the eyes". The European Federation that unites eight lens, frame and optical equipment manufacturers associations, represents 85% - a total of 700 companies – of Europe's optical industry. Thanks to considerable technical innovation, member companies foster the development of better products for consumers in terms of design and vision wellbeing that are always based on European directives for medical devices and accessories for protection and on international standards (ISO) for protection against UV rays.   Representing ESA, Francesco Pellegrini and Martijn van der Eerde were both at the meeting and confirmed their total support for combined initiatives such as this. They also announced that ESA and EUROM will try to officially integrate their organizations in a project similar to that developed in the United States, where the American Sunglasses Association and The Vision Council were successfully joined. ESA also formally announced the completion of its internal reorganization and introduced the three people who now form the new back office team: Matilde Sometti, ESA secretarial office manager, Valentina Fraccascia, press office and media relations. All ESA operations will be supervised by Cecilia Zanasi. During the meeting, market research company 'Strategy with Vision' presented an overview of the findings of a European survey recently commissioned by ESA (a copy of the presentation is attached; other details and results will be available for all ESA members).   The Vision Council representatives who took part in the meeting included James Shyer, chairman of the Board of Directors, Scott MacGuffie and Robert Grow, president and vice president of the Sun and Vision Glasses Division, and Greg Chavez, vice president of Member Services. The latter gave a detailed presentation of the campaign for UV protection that is being implemented by the Organization itself. Statistics have revealed that despite being aware of the damage that sun does to the skin, the majority of Americans do not know how dangerous ultraviolet rays are for the eyes. "The aim of Vision Council", said Robert Grow, "is to encourage the purchase of sunglasses through a targeted and multiyear campaign that emphasizes the importance of outdoor protection".