1951 marked Canadians in many ways. While the Canadian team won the World Ice Hockey Championship and the famous Labatt Blue Beer was launched on the market, in Montreal Fred and Judith Hochstadter were about to revolutionize the optical industry in Canada!

COS began as a small private home office with business activities in Quebec and Ontario. Over the years, the COS Family grew from the original downtown Montreal office to its current location on the west side of the city, serving eye care professionals across Canada.

70 years and 3 generations later, the Montreal family business continues to develop strong and lasting relationships with its customers.

Looking back at a successful journey: 

In 1964, the high-end eyewear manufacturer Silhouette was founded and immediately appointed COS to be the exclusive distributor of the brand in Canada. In 1993, Silhouette offered COS to distribute the adidas sport eyewear collection, a stretch which lasted for 25 years. The trust placed in COS by the Silhouette Group from the very beginning is still a source of great pride almost 60 years later.

The Danish brand Inface joined the company’s brand portfolio in 2002. A number of years later, it introduced the nifties collection, offering products specially designed for fine facial features. Recognizing the importance of this niche in eyewear, Inface and COS worked together to develop this unique collection which combines the best of Danish design, sized for small faces. When Design Eyewear Group purchased the inface brand, they finally made this vision a reality. Inface and Nifties are now two popular and trendy brands that, despite changes of ownership, chose to stay at COS. 

Faced with the complexity for optical laboratories to edge and drill Silhouette rimless frames, COS decided to open its own lab, thus setting itself as the standard of rimless glasses. When the opportunity presented itself, COS added adidas sun Rx lenses to its lens portfolio becoming the only Silhouette distributor to develop adidas 8-base sun Rx lenses thanks to the lab which was already in place. The presence of the in-house lab allows the company to build relationships that are more direct with its customers, by offering a complete finished eyeglass service. COS Lab ensures one of the main goals of the organization: accompany and provide advice as close as possible to the reality of eye care professionals.

COS and its lab took innovation even further by creating their own brands! Fitson was launched in 2012 followed by Code in 2015. Designed in Montreal by COS employees, these brands offer new trendy and affordable products highlighting the Canadian pride of the company.

The quality of customer service and close relationships remain at the heart of the company’s mission. To ensure even greater satisfaction, COS continuously develops its digital services. Since 2016, the website has evolved to support ECPs in their sales process, enhance their customer experience and provide them with the help they need to develop their own business.

2021 marks the 70th anniversary of a family initiative that continues to transform the Canadian eye care industry every day by passionately delivering high quality services. COS is proud to maintain excellent relationships with both customers and employees, many of whom have been members of the COS family for many years.