The Korea Eyeglasses CooperativeAssociation (KECA) will start expanding its market to overseas with its ownbrand OVIUS.

KECA is a cooperative established byeyeglass lens manufacturers and related businesses in 2020. It is made upof companies with various capabilities like manufacturing and coatingeyeglasses lens technology from Hanmi Swiss Optical, German Tech (Hwashin Optical),Nauri Optical, Ovius, and Covis to B2B export and B2C online sales.

Regarding the background of theestablishment of the cooperative and the development of overseas marketplatforms through OVIUS, the staff from the cooperative said, "We want toexport eyeglasses lens technology of Korea with higher competitiveness byintegrating regional related businesses with various characteristics andcompetitiveness."

Currently, the cooperative isconducting business for eyeglasses lens wholesalers in Korea and overseasregions, and retailers selling finished products including eyeglasses lensesand sunglasses. Businesstarget countries are Europe and Africa (EMEA), Asia Pacific (APAC), andAmericas, and OVIUS has manufacturing infrastructure in overseas regions thatdominate the competitive advantage in addition to Korea.

Especially, OVIUS was established in2011 as a Korean eyeglasses lens sales and sunglasses brand company, and hasthe standard and performance that can stand side to side to the world-classeyeglasses lens brand products. It is also known for its high-qualitycolor-changing lens sunglasses for children and sportswear sunglasses with 50times the durability of FDA safety approval standards. In March ofthis year, it succeeded in developing next-gen color-changing frame glasses,and now is in the process of patent registration.

According to the cooperative staff,for the tinted color change sunglasses, the next-gen color change frameeyeglasses lenses currently being developed show change in color not only inthe lenses, but also the frame as well. Usually,transparent frames and glasses with pink, yellow, green, brown, and blue lenseschange color to luxurious translucent black frame sunglasses when exposed tosunlight.

In addition, ICT-linked tint smartsunglasses were improved in the existing bone conduction method by installing aBluetooth device on the eyeglasses lens frame. It is ahigh-tech product that delivers music directly to users’ ears through a smallspeaker inserted into the frame.

The cooperative is in discussions between members to set target sales after implementing an overseas online sales platform in June. The online platform currently under development is a fast and easy customized online ordering system for both wholesale and retail eyeglasses lenses businesses, and can conveniently provide both spare (off-the-shelf) and Rx (custom) orders.

On the other hand, a cooperative staff said, “We will continue to recruit eyeglasses lens manufacturers and related businesses (package supply, distribution, delivery, etc.) as members to develop Korean and overseas markets with better quality and service. In addition to sales, we will do our best to improve transparency and efficiency by collecting and analyzing big data in distribution structure, variable prices, average prices, regulation, quality improvement, technology development-related information,” The company also will provide English-speaking services for overseas markets.