So Luxottica stopped distributing Oakley's products in Sunglass Hut, etc.. which deprived Oakley of the majority of it's revenue, causing their stock to crash.
Oakley then accepted a buyout offer from Luxottica.
So to answer your question, why are there not better Luxottica competitors.. because when someone produces a good product, they'll become large enough to attract Luxottica's attention...
If Luxottica controls the distribution channel.. what options do you have if they want to play hardball? No good ones.
One could have argued similarly for Gillette. Then Dollar Shave Club went direct to consumers.
Likewise, I referenced an independent distributor who stocked non-Luxottica frames. Margins in this business are wide enough that economies of scale, alone, are an insufficient explanation.
When I bought my Oakleys last year, most of my research was by browsing in the two Oakley retail stores in my city. Some was from browsing at surfwear stores (as far as I know, Luxottica don't own Rip Curl or City Beach).
A small portion of my shopping research was on my (Luxottica-owned) optometrist's website, but I ended up buying from the Oakley Factory Outlet store.
https://seekingalpha.com/article/40333-oakley-luxottica-grou...
The same thing is true, IIRC, of Scottish tartans. All the nice plaid represents some clan or another.
I've had similar experiences with dress shirts as well. Plain nice shirts end up costing more than elaborate designs because that's the one people actually want
I always assumed that, when it comes to logo covered clothing, you were getting a subsidized price in return for "repping" e.g. Nike.
I can't find the source online, but I remember reading in "The Luxury Strategy" [0] that the cars at the lower end of the Mercedes line-up had badges 2" larger than those on the premium cars (e.g. A vs S Class), and the LV on the lower end Vuitton bags was larger than the higher end ones - specifically so they could be seen more easily to heighten the ego of the owner.
[0] Kapferer: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Luxury-Strategy-Break-Marketing-Bra...
Patterns that people are willing to pay more for are more expensive because there is more money chasing them, not because they are more expensive to create.
I am honestly curious if this is primarily a materials, vendor, distribution, design personnel or intellectual property bottleneck.
That said, the frames are totally hit or miss, with some of them feeling like they aren't worth the $10-20 or whatever they cost. I find though, its no so much materials as attention to detail. The materials themselves withstand a beating. One of my favorite pairs _rattled_ when I got it because the little plastic nose pieces, and the little plastic piece that fit over the end of the arms was lose. Drop of glue in the ear pieces, and a softer nose piece and they are now my favorite glasses.
OTOH, I also owned a half dozen pairs of ray-bans before I switched to zenni, and probably 3/4 of them had finish problems within the first couple years. The coating on the plastic pieces started to disintegrate leaving a sticky residue on one pair, and three pairs with metal frames had the clear varnish like substance start to crack and peel from the metallic finish. Another started to discolor after a couple years. I guess at least rayban has perfected planned obsolescence...
Mykita founder split from ic berlin (screwless frames). If you look at their designs, there does seem to be IP/patent avoidance. Both are comparably priced. There are supposedly cheap clones available, maybe they can be found on Alibaba.
Edit: see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15431180
Edit2: ic berlin patent (expired?): https://www.google.com/patents/US5418581
Also a big fan of Etnia Barcelona -- they're in a similar price bracket (as far as I know they're independent, but I'll admit to not having researched it)