re: Sun glasses : knock off vs. Name brand

I have a pair of Ray Bans in one vehicle, older(free)Mauis in another, some gas station polarized as back ups on one boat and Wiley X in my fishing bag. The Wiley X have foam on the rim so I don't get that weird air flow into my eyeballs while driving the boat, but aside from that I could care less which ones I wear. I actually had a pair I bought at Bass Pro a while back for 20 bucks I believe that were by far my favorite, but I lost the damn things.

Luxottica basically has the sunglasses market cornered.




The house brands include:

Alain Mikli
Arnette
Eye Safety Systems (ESS)
K&L (formerly Killer Loop)
Oakley
Oliver Peoples
Persol
Ray-Ban
Sferoflex
Vogue Eyewear

The company also makes eyewear under license for designer labels such as:

Armani
Emporio Armani
A|X - Armani Exchange
Brooks Brothers
Bulgari
Burberry
Chanel
Coach
Dolce & Gabbana
DKNY
Michael Kors
Miu Miu
Polo Ralph Lauren
Paul Smith Spectacles
Prada
Ralph
Ralph Lauren eyewear
Tiffany & Co.
Tory Burch
Versace

The most recent deal was with Tory Burch. These brands are sold in the company's own shops, as well as to independent distributors such as department stores, duty-free shops, and opticians.


Luxottica Retail has more than 7,000 retail locations in the United States, South America, Canada, China, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and United Arab Emirates. The headquarters of the retail division is in Mason, Ohio (North America). Their retail banners include:

Sunglass Hut International
LensCrafters
Pearle Vision
Sears Optical
Target Optical
OPSM
ILORI
EyeMed Vision Care
Optical Shop of Aspen
Laubman & Pank
GMO
Oliver Peoples
Alain Mikli
Oakley
David Clulow
Charity

quote:

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Costco is the second largest seller of eyewear, and they make Italian made sunglasses that sell for less than 30 dollars. Anyone who has owned a pair of Kirkland sunglasses will tell you their quality is on par with the big names.

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I bought a pair of $40 Kirkland wayfarers a month ago and I've been pretty happy with them.

I go cheap on my sunglasses but splurge on my frat straps.

Bunch of people getting played by Luxottica in this thread.

I have rayban wayfarers that are not worth the extra money. They are the $99 non-polarized version. You are laying for the Rayban logo, and I realized that when I pruchased.

There is a visable difference and feel whem I wear my costas. Is the quality worth $275? I'm not sure, but the are a lot better than anything I've ever tried off the cheapo rack. The 580 lenses truly cut glare and are very clear. I wear them while driving in rainstorms on the interstate because they help cut through the glare of the white mist kicked up by cars. They wont completely cut out glare on the water at 7 a.m., but they'll make it possible to keep fishing towards the east when it otherwise would be nearly impossible to bear.