A Lens of Duplicity?

A Lens of Duplicity?

Your favorite sunglasses have gotten you this far through the summer, and it’s time to begin thinking about your sunglasses for the fall and winter.

Choices, choices. Do you purchase another pair of Smiths for the upcoming ski season, opt for something sultry and dramatic from Versace, or continue to wear your Kate Spade sunglasses just because they look incredibly awesome?

Or are you looking for something made here in the good old USA? How important to you is the manufactured quality of your eyewear?

Your choice really comes down to style, brand preference and which designer you most closely associate with.

That’s because most of the eyewear you love is made by one of two Italian eyewear manufacturers.

Two Houses in Italy

The two companies that have cornered most of the eyewear market in the world are Safilo Group and Luxottica. Together they have a market share of over 90% – nine out of every ten pairs of eyeglasses are made by one of these two companies.

The odds are that you have a pair of Italian sunglasses, even if you are wearing American labels such as Juicy Couture or Ralph Lauren eyewear.

Here’s a quick look at the two companies:

Safilo

• Is actually an acronym (Società Anonima Fabbrica Italiana Lavorazione Occhiali) for the company founded in 1934.
• Makes it their mission to delight the world with eyewear.
• Includes brands such as Banana Republic, Dior, Fendi, Marc Jacobs, Pierre Cardin and Tommy Hilfiger.
• Is a significant supporter of the Special Olympics.

 Luxottica

• Was founded in 1961 as a die manufacturer for eyeglass parts.
• Aims to enhance faces.
• Includes brands such as Coach, Michael Kors, Persol, Oakley, Ray-Ban and Versace.
• Made 83 million frames in 2014.
• Developed One Sight as a way to help people in dozens of countries with vision problems.

The Safilo and Luxottica houses design and manufacture their own internal brands of optical frames as well as other brands of eyewear that you have come to love.

Your favorite eyewear brands are made of the highest quality, and these two companies have well over one hundred years of combined experience in delivering the prescription eyewear and sunglasses style and quality you want in fashion. Safilo Group and Luxottica openly advertise all of their brands; in fact, owning eyewear from either house may be a selling point for the savvy consumer.

As for duplicity, there’s no underhandedness or trickery going on in the eyewear world. The only duplicity going on behind the lenses of optical frames are the double Italian houses that create most of the world’s eyewear.