Another reason they are so expensive, is because there are other frame manufacturers that actually make them by hand in the US, which must have high prices. eg. like the little guys: www.somnoir.com Not a luxxotica fan, but glasses items let you see, and they frame your face, (pretty valuable and aesthetically paramount) As a designer its not easy to combine form and function that operate perfectly and beautifully within the parameters of a humans face.