ESSILOR OF AMERICA NATIONAL SALES MEETING –
VISION EXTREME: NO BOUNDARIES, NO LIMITS, ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES


DALLAS – (February 9, 2007) – Essilor of America, Inc. (EOA) kicked off the New Year with several major product announcements at its National Sales Meeting held in Banff, Canada, January 4-7, 2007. This annual event joins together independent authorized Varilux® laboratories, Essilor Laboratories of America (ELOA), partner laboratories, Essilor sales associates, Essilor of America employees, Independent Distribution Division (IDD) customers, Independent Laboratory partners and other key personnel. It was held at the Fairmont Banff Springs and drew over 670 Essilor employees and IDD customers who were educated on product updates, sales growth, new tools and upcoming goals.

Carl Bracy, vice president of marketing, introduced this year’s theme, “Vision Extreme: No Boundaries, No Limits, Endless Possibilities,” and emceed the event. Laurent Vacherot, former president of EOA, and Philippe Alfroid, chief operating officer for Essilor International, both addressed the company about the state of the industry and the direction for Essilor.

PRODUCT NEWS: A LOOK BACK
The year 2006 was exciting for Essilor brands and included the launch of several key products. Crizal Alizé with Clear Guard was launched as the latest and most advanced Essilor anti-reflective coating in the Crizal family. This new technology allows lenses to stay cleaner longer through “anti-static” properties which actually repel the dust, dirt and smudges that normally accumulate.

Essilor’s focus on digital surfacing enabled the introduction of Varilux Physio 360°™ lens and Varilux® Physio®, which deliver the sharpest progressive vision available today through virtually eliminating higher order aberrations. DEFINITY™ lenses also continued to find success and the response from the market to this product has been amazing. The new products are all unique and dedicated to meeting the individual needs of the market.

PRODUCT NEWS: THE YEAR AHEAD
Essilor is looking forward to another outstanding year with the launch of several new products and enhanced resources for ECPs. Crizal Sun™ is the latest addition to the Crizal® family and is the perfect complement for optimized vision in a sun lens. The progressive addition lens (PAL) market has also expanded with the announcement of the new Accolade™ and Accolade Freedom™ lenses, offering more premium options to eye care professionals (ECPs) for their patients, available in February 2007.

Also this year, Essilor’s DEFINITY™ will add the DEFINITY 1.67 to their product line. This will provide patients who wear the DEFINITY lens with an even thinner and lighter option, expanding the DEFINITY line to a 4.0 ADD.

The Varilux line anticipates continued success in 2007 as a result of the launch of new products in 2006 and 2007. As Essilor believes digital surfacing is vital to the industry, plans are in place for further advancements in this important growth area.

In addition, through a new online tool, ELOA PracticeBuilder™ will provide enhanced resources for ECPs to track practice growth, goals, profits and trends. Finally, Essilor will be the only company to manufacture Thin&Lite® 1.74 lenses in North America, offering ECPs faster service time and the ultimate in lens design.

AWARDS
The annual awards ceremony recognized the following outstanding achievements of 2006.

INDEPENDENT LAB OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE IN VARILUX SALES:
Pinnacle Optical, Optical Prescription Lab Inc., Continental Sales Corporation,
Balester Optical Co

INDEPENDENT LAB OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE IN CRIZAL SALES:
Legends Optical 4.0, Pinnacle Optical LLC, Lab Italee, Davis Vision

INDEPENDENT VARILUX LAB OF THE YEAR:
Legends Optical 4.0

INDEPENDENT CRIZAL LAB OF THE YEAR:
Luzerne Optical

PRESIDENT’S CLUB AWARDS (for sales) were also presented for top performers in all areas including ELOA, IDD (internal), Retail, and Brand.

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Varilux, Physio, Crizal, and Ipseo are registered trademarks and DEFINITY and Crizal Sun are trademarks of Essilor International, S.A. Thin&Lite is a registered trademark and Physio 360°, 360° Digital Surfacing, Accolade and Accolade Freedom are trademarks of Essilor of America, Inc. ELOA PracticeBuilder is a trademark of Essilor Laboratories of America, Inc.