supplier profile
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Nonu Ifergan
Aspex Group celebrates
10 years with Costco
By Wendy Helfenbaum
Ifergan says he “figured out weaknesses in
the competition to improve our company
within the industry. We carved out a niche for
ourselves to grab part of the market.”
PEOPLE WITH AN incredibly positive outlook are often described as seeing the world
through rose-coloured glasses. But Montreal
businessman Nonu Ifergan has literally seen
his own success take shape through glasses—
high-tech, ultra-fashionable eyeglasses, that is.
They have been an excellent partner for
us, and we’re very happy. It’s a pleasure
to work with them.” —Nonu Ifergan
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Thierry adds, “We looked at what was
going to be our unique selling proposition,
and we found that in technology.”
Founded: 1965
Owner: Nonu Ifergan
Ifergan’s company, Aspex Group, is known
worldwide as an optical industry leader. Its
patented twistable and magnetic eyewear is
sold in more than 80 countries, changing the
way people wear glasses. And Ifergan’s passion
for technological innovation that combines
functionality with style was the driving factor
in his business plan.
In 1983 Ifergan acquired the company.
Around that time he also became intrigued with
a new optical technology, carbon fibre graphite,
which was being used to produce eyeglass
frames. He began selling the first flexible frames
made with shape memory metal, a nickel titanium alloy originally developed by NASA scientists in the 1960s. At first they were a big hit,
but breakage became a recurring problem.
Wendy Helfenbaum, www.taketwoproductions.ca,
is a Montreal-based writer and television producer.
Business name: Aspex Group
Number of employees: More than 600
Address: 5440 Rue Pare,
Ville Mont-Royal, QC H4P 1R3
Phone number: 514-938-3000
Web site: www.aspexeyewear.com
Products: EasyClip, Easy Twist for adults
and Turbokids
Ifergan worked in the fruit and vegetable
industry in Morocco, moving to Canada in
1965. He’d planned on working in the garment industry, but his path led him to forge a
career in the optical business.
Aspex set out to develop a better solution.
In 1972, after more than five years of
Ifergan working as a partner to help grow the
business, Aspex became the first North
American company to introduce designer
eyeglass frames, including Christian Dior and
Gucci. But big designer brands brought some
big headaches, notes Ifergan’s son, Thierry,
who heads up Aspex’s U.S. division.
In 1995, while funding research in Europe
to come up with a nickel- and titanium-free
alloy, Aspex launched its patented EasyClip
collection. Thanks to a simple magnetic clip,
polarized dark lenses instantly turned optical
lenses into sunglasses. The following year,
Aspex patented Trilaston, a nickel-free,
hypoallergenic copper-based alloy rich in aluminum, and used it to make Easy Twist, which
the company calls “the world’s most flexible,
twistable eyeglass frame.”
Comment about Costco: “All our technology is available there. Costco’s representatives are true professionals. They
know and appreciate high-quality products.
“Some of our early challenges involved
dealing with the designers who had the licences
for the big brands,” he recalls. “In the mid-’70s,
a German businessman came into my father’s
office, put his feet up on his desk and lit up a
cigar, announcing, ‘Congratulations, we’ve
decided to buy your company!’ My father’s
reaction was ‘Take your feet off my desk, put
out that cigar and get out of my office.’ ”
Eyewear is no longer a medical device,
notes Thierry. “Eyeglasses have become a
fashion statement, an expression of one’s personality. My father’s a pioneer, always finding
new technologies and bringing them to the
forefront of the optical industry.”
France. When Ifergan started out, European-made designer eyewear was all the rage; today,
homegrown products are more advanced
technically, and customers, who have become
more demanding over time, appreciate top
quality and technical innovation.
Ifergan has no intention of slowing down.
“I’ll retire when I’m 120,” he says, adding that
he plans to continue along the same path he
forged 50 years ago.
As a result, Ifergan soon stopped selling
designer brands and instead focused on the
design, manufacturing and marketing of revolutionary eyewear.
Ifergan says he is especially proud of
Aspex’s strong family-business culture. His
son and two daughters, Karen and Yael, all
run the company with him. “The most important lesson we learned from my father is to
never be arrogant, to stay grounded and
down-to-earth, because success comes in
waves,” Thierry tells The Connection.
He insists the secret of his success is no
secret at all: A company must constantly adapt
to changes in the market. “You must do everything possible to develop cutting-edge technology and products. We’re the only ones in the
world that have this technology, yet we won’t
ever stop innovating, no matter what.” C
Aspex now employs more than 600
employees across North America and in
