Everytime I read about glasses I have to think about the Luxottica-Monopoly which kind of controls most of the market and prices of glasses/lenses.
https://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-fi-lazarus-glass...
https://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-fi-lazarus-glass...
Not too surprisingly, independent small batch production runs of frames end up costing a lot of money.
There are also artisan frame makers who hand make the frames. If you are going to pay $300 for some frames, mine as well get an actual work of craftsmanship.
At the end of the day, most Luxottica frames are actually far cheaper than the high end independent frames you can buy. Exceptions are the fancy branded frames, but at that point the $ is for the Gucci logo.
Online bare bones frames also exist, or just go to Costco.
A 3x-4x markup at retail is normal. For low traffic businesses, an even higher markup is needed to stay in business.
Those online stores do a lot of volume, and don't have to pay leases or for nearly as many opticians to be on staff.
> that the prices we pay for eyewear in no way reflect the actual cost of making frames and lenses.
Of course it doesn't. The price we pay for eyewear is the price we value it at. Just like literally everything else that is sold in stores that isn't a commodity good.
Doesn't help that insurance is involved. $200 a year eyeglasses allowance. Eyeglasses end up costing $200. Is anyone surprised?
This is how I excuse spending $250 on a mech keyboard and using high-end smartphones/laptops.
Not buying super expensive new cars, or any cars, is probably the best place to not do this. Unless you commute daily.
In reality, it's pretty hard, because very few stores have much selection at all to look at. After a number of years of buying their frames every once in awhile, I found an optometrist who invited me to "meet the sales rep" so I jumped at the chance; turned out it was a co-owner and also a model for the company's materials, he brought basically every frame they owned to the meeting, told me great stories, made great recommendations. It was the amazing experience I had been looking for but not finding. Just gotta get lucky, I guess, with smaller companies.
[1] https://www.zennioptical.com/
I supported Frameri through their crowdfunding and beyond for this reason. I bought several sets of interchangeable frames and lenses from them and am pretty satisfied. But then they closed up shop and left me hanging with a never-fulfilled final order. :-(
The article mentions a +7 in one eye, we’re in the 1.67 index range (mine are 1.6) with a script like that. €208 is a deal.
Not to say that $200 isn't a great deal compared to Luxottica, and he did say that he was very particular about his frames, but $200 still seemed high.