LEWISVILLE, Texas—Hoya Vision Care has formed a partnership with Tifosi Optics, a maker of sports sunwear, to expand prescription sunglass offerings for both eyecare professionals and consumers.

A Hoya spokesperson told VMail that the partnership involves co-branding, but not a financial arrangement.

In a joint statement, the two companies said their combined offering of Tifosi frames and Hoya lenses “will allow eyecare professionals to exploit a value price point while procuring new patients and improved margins. The partnership brings a distinct advantage to independent eyecare by providing a dedicated laboratory that excels in producing lenses for Tifosi frame styles to help provide the ECP with a clean and simple offering that provides outstanding quality, great delivery times and superior margins.”


Gregg Fowler, Hoya’s vice president of sales and marketing, commented, “There are many popular brands of sunwear that bypass the independent practice by going direct to consumer and even filling prescriptions online. We enjoy working with companies like Tifosi that share our values and play an important role in supporting our mutual customers.”

Tifosi Optics cofounder Joe Earley, remarked, “Hoya has many strong relationships along with cutting edge lens technologies to help us offer a truly advanced product to the market while helping our ECPs succeed in a crowded market. I believe that with our sunglasses and Hoya’s freeform lens capabilities, we will be able to truly make a difference in the eyecare market by offering ECPs a program that allows them to offer high quality prescription sunglasses without stipulating how they decide to run their businesses.”

Tifosi Optics was founded in 2003 and remains independently owned by founders Joe and Elizabeth Earley.