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The reason glasses cost so much is because one company owns: (1) nearly all brand name frames including Ray-Ban, Oakley, Prada eyewear, Armani eyewear and so on, (2) nearly all retail stores such as LensCrafters, Pearle Vision, Sears Optical and Target Optical and (3) EyeMed, one of the largest vision insurance companies.

See this eye-opening 60 Minutes story on Luxottica: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDdq2rIqAlM

Luxottica retail brands: http://www.luxottica.com/en/retail-brands

Luxottica eyewear brands: http://www.luxottica.com/en/eyewear-brands

Luxottica vision insurance: http://www.luxottica.com/en/node/6336

In the US, only Costco and Walmart's optical departments are independent of Luxottica.

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I worked at Oakley when it was acquired by Lux.

Oakley puts an INSANE amount of R&D into their products, particularly their eyewear. They have laser stations to make sure the optics of the lens doesnt change the perspective of things (the difference between catching a baseball in the glove and in the mouth), "shotgun" tests, weighted spikes, and even have a machine that opens/closes the sunglasses several million times. They test each design and material very thoroughly. Or, at least, they did when I worked there.

If the design didn't survive all of the tolerance parameters, back to the drawing board.

We also subjected our competitors glasses to the same tests. You wouldn't believe how many name brands just fell apart, or blew up into shards of plastic into our dummies' eyes, etc.

When Lux bought us, they made us take down the videos of exploding ray-bans we had on our website (And some other brands). Then they ran our entire department into the ground. Real piece of shit company. Those of us who didn't leave between 08-12 got laid off in ~16 or so.

That’s really sad! Oakley was one of the companies that I respected. They had (have?) great products.

I probably watched all those videos, you could see the amount of work dedicated to each item.

I don’t believe any sunglasses company will ever put the same effort in R&D like them.

Seems to me that since the acquisition they started to use cheaper materials. Maybe I’am right?

Seems that way to me, too. I'm not certain, though, since my contacts have long moved on.

To make matters more interesting, EssilorLuxottica is going to stop separating everything, and start "bundle pricing" things -- so, whatever clarity you might have had on a receipt or something else is going to go out the window.

EssilorLuxottica is probably about 70% Sunglass Hut, 30% Vision when it comes to retail sales (I'm not factoring in Oakley). They also sell their frames on the wholesale market for independent DO's to purchase; pre-merger Luxottica did have some "house" lenses, but, they were just as expensive as Essilor lenses.

Ironically enough, Luxottica did attempt to be Costco's Vision provider for a few years back in the early 2000's, but, they did back out of it after only two years.

There are other non-Luxottica options in the US. Warby Parker, Bailey Nelson, and Ollie Quinn to name a few. Almost everyone sells Essilor frames though but not quite everyone is owned by the eyewear conglomerate. At least with Bailey you can get some quality frames for a decent price.

Does anyone know the non-Luxottica options in Europe, where the market is much more fragmented across countries?

I know about Ace And Tate (NL), GlassesDirect (UK), and Quattrocento (IT) .

Fielmann is a German brand available in several European countries, but I'm not sure if they make their own eyewear.

Still, I can't imagine paying 1000 USD for a pair of glasses. In Poland 100 EUR gives you a decent pair, 200 EUR is already a bit much.

Got myself a pair of titanium ace & tate glasses, great quality and good service. Would recommend if you are looking for a pair in NL.

You don't have to be in NL - they ship them to all EU countries and have stores out of Holland too - in UK, Germany, Belgium, plus you can find them in some 3rd party stores now too.

I recommend them as well. Persol (obviously from Luxottica so no good if you don't went to support them but I just couldn't find as stylish, foldable sunglasses elsewhere) and Ace & Tate are my favorite brands but I don't need prescription lenses so that may vary.

I got Mykita frames, but they're not exactly a cheap alternative.

I can recommend Viu. They are available in some European markets and by focusing on a essential selection of frames, they are able to satisfy most peoples needs. Paid 150€ for mine.

Costco till the day I die.

Aren't they now EssilorLuxottica and also control a good chunk of lenses market as well?

Fun fact: Costco and Walmart surface their lenses on equipment made by Essilor (Satisloh subsidiary). Also if you're buying "transitions" branded photochromatic lenses - that's Essilor too.

If EssilorLuxottica was an American company the EU would have fined them a few billion dollars, and split them up a long time ago.

I was wondering why the US hasn’t gone after Luxottica, and I’m guessing that’s the answer: US crackdown on Lux will lead to retaliatory action by EU.

Who cares? EU is already going after American companies.

The US rarely cares about antitrust action anymore. Otherwise a lot of American companies would be sweating bullets right now.

The US however slaps huge fines on foreign companies for breaching sanctions or bribery of foreign officials.

Why? Which American companies did the EU split up? There was an article in the Economist this week criticising the US for fines levied on foreign businesses for misdeeds elsewhere: https://www.economist.com/leaders/2019/01/19/the-trouble-wit...

It's a recurring theme in HN discussions about fines that all the Americans think the evil EU is unfairly fining fine American companies, and all the Europeans think the evil Americans are unfairly fining their countries' fine companies :)

I'm sure there are very few manufacturers of quality lens-making equipment.

On the other hand my latest glasses where neither lenses nor frame come from E-L cost an arm and a leg, too.

Why does that make the glasses so expensive though? The frames from my glasses were about 100 EUR and the glasses were a lot more expensive. If I ask my parents or other people, they are paying 1000 EUR or more for the glasses by themselves (not the frames). I'm about to get new glasses next month because my current glasses are 6 years old now, I'm looking forward to some new glasses.

A lot of it just comes down to lack of competition. They own pretty much every major eyewear brand.

I got a pair of $100 Warby Parker frames w/ lenses last week that are every bit as nice as any good designer pair I've seen in an optical shop.

Even the luxottica brands have some cheap options. They are expensive because there is a market for people to spend $200+ on eyewear.

That's insane.

I've recently bought a pair of regular glasses as well as prescription sunglasses. Regular ones use Mont Blanc frames(considered expensive) + some pretty good lenses(best ones they offered anyway). Total cost: £400 for everything.

Sunglasses: Ray-Ban frames + their own Ray-Ban G15 prescription lens(again, pretty expensive) - total cost £320 for everything.

I just don't understand - how are those people you mention paying 1000 euro for glasses(I assume you mean lenses)????? Are they some incredibly complex custom lenses that they are getting? Mine are for nearsightedness + slight astigmatism in one eye.

These are specific types of lenses that are for both nearsightedness and farsightedness.

"They are paying 1000 EUR or more for the glasses by themselves"

Where is that?

I have strong short-sightness and astigmatism so I need special lenses, and on top of it I usually ask for the thinner model.

Together with frame it cost me about 300EUR just recently, in Madrid, Spain.

Yep they own the industry, they've tried buying Warby Parker numerous times because they are hurting their monopoly (so I've heard). WP, won't play ball and be bought up.

> The reason glasses cost so much is because one company owns: (1) nearly all brand name frames including Ray-Ban, Oakley, Prada eyewear, Armani eyewear and so on, (2) nearly all retail stores such as LensCrafters, Pearle Vision, Sears Optical and Target Optical and (3) EyeMed, one of the largest vision insurance companies.

The vast majority of my glasses' cost is the lenses, last time around they cost me >$200 each IIRC. I didn't even change the frames, just got the lenses replaced.

That cost too is highly inflated. My wife has a crazy bad eyes/strong prescription and she was able to get glasses including frames for under $70 from Zenni.

If you're paying $400 for just lenses, you're badly over-paying.

> That cost too is highly inflated. My wife has a crazy bad eyes/strong prescription and she was able to get glasses including frames for under $70 from Zenni.

It's a combination of prescription and comfort: I have a strong prescription, thinned lenses, and because I'm pretty sensitive to light (clear eyes) photochromic and AR. Possibly a few other bits I don't remember.

I'm not saying there's no inflation, but going on zenni with my old prescription (and trying to roughly match the options / add-ons) still yields lenses around $200, and I got my current glasses almost 5 years ago.

And Walmart is still very expensive. I commented elsewhere this but they wanted $180-240 just to replace lenses in already existing frames.

I used to do accounting for several retailers. Markups are insane. Brand name frames retailing for €100+ would be purchased from suppliers at €15 or less.

Are they also the reason why optometrists insist that it's an inborn effect, despite all the research pointing towards an environmental cause?

eyebuydirect zenioptical

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