Essilor International is a French multinational corporation specialized in the design, manufacture and sale of ophthalmic lenses, optical equipment and instruments.

[citation needed] Silor (Société Industrielle de Lunetterie et d'Optique Rationnelle) first started under the name Lissac in 1931 as a retailer of ophthalmic lenses and frames before becoming a lens manufacturer.

[10] After many years as rivals, Essel and Silor merged on 1 January 1972 to form Essilor, then the world's third-largest ophthalmic optical firm.

Many distributors were acquired or merged with Essilor in Europe (Norway, Portugal) and Asia (Burma, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam).

Essilor partnered with PPG of the United States to develop Transitions, a technology that allows lenses to become darker or lighter depending on the intensity of ambient light.

[25] In 2015, Essilor International's U.S. subsidiary acquired Vision Source, a service network of independent optometrists, from Brazos Equity Partners LLC for an undisclosed amount.

[37][38][39] Throughout, Luxottica faced allegations of unfair operating practices, including the abuse of market dominance to artificially inflate prices and also restrict competition via monopolisation.

[42] A new holding company, EssilorLuxottica, was formally created on 1 October 2018, resulting in combined market capitalization of approximately €57 billion.

The collection includes medieval spectacles, bourgeois lorgnettes, walking sticks with optical systems, French actress Sarah Bernhardt's lorgnettes, the daughter of Louis XV's [Victoire de France] glasses, and the iconic white plastic Courrèges Slit (a futuristic pair of sunglasses modelled upon a 2000-year old Arctic Inuit design, utilising carved slivers of whalebone, slit horizontally, to provide anti-glare eye protection).

[1] In Singapore, the Centre for Innovation and Technology and the International Vision Academy are housed in a facility called Kallang Bahru.

[49] Essilor has about 450 researchers working at its five R&D facilities: one in Ireland dedicated to photochromic lenses and four Innovation and Technologies Centers in Europe (Créteil, France), the United States (Dallas) and Asia (China and Singapore).

Every year since 2010, Essilor has figured among the top 100 publicly traded companies investors identify as having the highest innovation potential.

Essilor's research department particularly concentrates on the combined progress of two complementary disciplines: optics and physiology, with particular recourse to virtual reality, a simulation tool that makes it possible to perceive and interact in 3D in a multi-sensory way.

[52] Researchers today use a virtual visualization system, equipped with algorithms and modeling Essilor developed to explore new optical solutions that can be tested directly on wearers.

This simulator makes it possible to vary the properties of the lenses tested, study optical effects and immediately gauge wearer satisfaction.

To do so, a magnetic sensor records a subject's head movements and images that show the eyes' exact viewpoint 120 times per second.

[53] In 2015 the firm, the Vision Institute and the Sorbonne University in Paris created Silversight, a joint public-private research program on healthy visual ageing.

In 2014, Essilor won a Fibre Innovation Award for Crizal Prevencia at an event at the Paris Pierre and Marie Curie University celebrating advances in technology that benefit society.

[60] Transitions Optical, Inc., specializing in photochromic lenses, started as a joint venture between PPG Industries and Essilor International S.A. in 1990.

One of the first research papers shared by the Institute showed that the global economy loses $227 billion every year from lost productivity caused by poor vision.

In 2016, the firm contributed to the EYElliance report "Bridging the visual divide", at the World Economic Forum, calling for more financial support for access to eyeglasses.

[70][non-primary source needed] In 2013, the firm launched the Eye Mitra program in India to increase access to vision care for underserved populations.

[71] Essilor and the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) signed a three-year partnership that will promote good vision as a key pillar of road safety through awareness campaigns and underline the importance of regular sight tests to ensure safe driving.

[72] In April 2018 the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust announced the creation of the Vision Catalyst Fund to bring eye care to people in the Commonwealth.