In every pair of glasses, in every brand, in each person working for the Group in different nations, quality is expressed by the attention shown to customers, employees, and the environment. In order to guarantee the excellence of “Made in Luxottica” eyewear everywhere on earth, the Company has developed a universal quality control system that that takes advantage of four central laboratories in Italy, China, United States and Brazil. Each is responsible for the quality in the region and conducts the same tests, adopting the same standards and using the same equipment in order to ensure uniformity of superior results.

These laboratories play another fundamental role: in addition to analyzing test results in detail, they also study the market and conduct research on new materials and lenses, in this way gathering precious information and inspiration for ongoing improvement that is transferred to design and production. One of the secrets behind creating trend-setting eyewear, in fact, is to anticipate and uncover the desires and needs of consumers before anyone else, surprising them with new and unexpected features.

Luxottica laboratories are organized in three distinct verification areas: mechanical, chemical, optical.

In the mechanical area, over 100 tests are conducted to evaluate the functionality and durability of the materials, lenses, frames, and other parts, such as the temples, cores and hinges.

The “temple fatigue test”, for example, measures the strength and resistance of hinges subjected to test cycles that consist of thousands of openings and closings, the equivalent of around 7 years of product life. The “bending” test measures the maximum load and elongation the glasses can withstand before bending or breaking. The “new endurance test” subjects the temples to opening and closing in order to check the frame’s fit under particular conditions, such as the sliding movement that occurs whenever a pair of glasses is taken off or put on.

The “Luigi Francavilla test" – a Luxottica hallmark – analyzes the frame’s strength at determined parameters of force and power: special machinery simulates the manual movements that Group Deputy Chairman Luigi Francavilla himself makes when he checks the quality of a pair of glasses.

In the chemical area, the safety and strength of materials and coatings are checked by raising the different environmental conditions eyewear normally encounters to extreme levels: massive quantities of solar UV radiation, heat, humidity, corrosive substances, sweat, and more. The accelerated ageing test, for example, checks the product’s resistance to wear by exposing it to ultraviolet radiation, high temperatures, and corrosive chemicals that reproduce the effects of continuous use over years. This is also the material safety test area, such as the Nickel test that measures the traces released by eyewear with metal frames.

In the optical laboratory, both visually corrective and sunglass lenses are put to strict testing that evaluates their physical properties and structural characteristics. The tests carried out here verify lens performance under extreme weather conditions or incorrect use in order for consumers to be ensured the maximum protection safety, and optimum vision every moment of the day.

Luxottica improves its quality system every year by introducing innovative technologies, developing new tests on its own that meet even higher standards than those required around the world. “Made in Luxottica” quality stands for this as well.