My good friend D-balls hooked me up with this article from The Wall Street Journal about the difference between designer sunglasses and cheap sunglasses.

“The fact is designer sunglasses are very expenses and they are, for most people, not worth it.”

It turns out that most sunglasses are made by the same company, Luxottica. Luxottica manufacturers sunglasses for Burberry, Chanel, Polo Ralph Lauren, Paul Smith, Stella McCartney, Tiffany, Versace, Vogue, Persol, Miu Miu, Tory Burch and Donna Karan. It even owns several brands itself including Ray-Ban, Oakley, Oliver Peoples and REVO. On top of that they even own a bunch of retailers including LensCrafters, Pearle Vision and Sunglass Hut.

The article suggests once you go over about $100 you aren’t getting any more quality sunglasses, you’re just paying for the brand name. The profit margins on these sunglasses are huge too.

I just drudged up an interesting bit of history here too. April 2001 Luxottica buys Sunglass Hut, the biggest seller of Oakley Sunglasses at which time Oakley sues Luxottica for patent infringement on their lens design. May 2003 Oakley settles the lawsuit with Luxottica. Then in 2007 Luxotica buys Oakley, Oakley had bought the Oliver Peoples brand in 2006, so Luxotica also get Oliver Peoples in the purchase.

So, don’t feel bad coming in and buying my shades for $12, you’re probably no better off buying designer sunglasses.

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Fashion, News by admin