If you think that's messed up, learn about how Luxottica acquired Oakley sunglasses. Short story is that they threatened them, crashed their stock, and then bought them out for a dirt cheap price. Oakley glasses were sold in Luxottica owned stores. Oakley told them that they were charging too much. Luxottica didn't like that and crushed them.
"Why do you keep buying them?" "Because there is no other option." It's the chicken or the egg scenario - which comes first? The demand from the consumer's due to supply or the supply from the manufacturer due to the demand?
@@PrabhablyAGoodUA-camr umm... You do realize there are more sunglasses than just Ray Bans, right? There is a plethora of options that aren't overpriced Ray Bans.
@@abhishekmaurya4665 by definition, they're not restricting their competition,they just don't have many competitors. It's not like they're burning down Warby Parker and Oakley factories because they are taking customers away. They don't have a monopoly on sunglasses, they built up their brand,and went with the prices their customers told them the sunglasses were worth.
@@nimzi4479 And I wonder why Oakley dont have alot of competitors? Because they were brought by a bigger company with other subsidiaries related to sunglasses and more. You dont understand the world of business.
YKK does make better zippers then everyone else tho and dont have a huge mark up, meanwhile theres plenty of cheap sunglasses that meet the same style and quality at a fraction of the price so not really the same thing at all
YKK is very famous for their quality. I live in Pakistan and I own a production plant of Beekeeping and workwear clothing. We import YKK zippers to use on our products, our foreign and local customers all ask for YKK zippers
I don’t think people understand how much our society has become a monopoly, our food is controlled by like 4 companies that all talk to each other. And all they have to do is keep giving money to law makers (who made bribing legal for themselves) so they vote the way the companies want.
Food, medicine, education, news, weapons, travel and so many other things are all largely controlled by Vanguard and BlackRock and a couple of other companies
I own cheap and expensive ones. The cheap ones are MUCH weaker in blocking the sun, and also have extremely poor clarity and contrast. Tried them side by side many times.
If we’re being completely honest, if the exact same pair of sunglasses were for sale right next to each other, and one was called Sunray and sold for twenty bucks whilst the other was called Raysun and sold for two hundred dollars, people would probably buy the Raysuns for the status.
I worked as a truck driver and delivered materials for Luxottica, i also got once to walk in a factory, i have to say, they use the best plastic ( base plastic comes from Switzerland) and in a pair of glasses goes more hand finishing than i imagined, i didn't expeted to have so many steps and so much quality control over every single pair, once out of the factory i understoo where the money goes. Also the manufacturing is done in Europe ( mostly Italy) where wages are high so they don't employ kids in a factory in Bangladesh. Not to mention their glasses are actually very good quality. I wear glasses due to poor vision and the first pairs were cheaper alternatives because i couldn't see the values, after often broken glases i bought a pair of raybans and it's still lasting. If they wouldn't provide the value people would not buy from them
I was going to comment that a lot of what they make is very good, they basically got a monopoly by being the "best", Luxottica and Safilo(arguably my last pair of safilo glasses were better than the luxottica ones I have now) make the best frames, best plastics, hinges and finish bar none that's how you become #1 and #2. Most of their competition manufactures in China and cuts corners, some are decent but many are of lower quality. When I was a child the optometrist always recommended luxottica and he'd tell you which brands were made by them and even steer you towards cheaper brands they were making. Only a sucker pays retail you can find luxottica frames all day long for less than $100 sometimes $75 and complete glass for $100-150. Generally if the eyeglass says made in Italy, Japan, or Germany they will be high quality and last a long time. Comparatively you can buy glasses by Zenni for like $35 but they are pretty cheap quality or Warby Parker for around $100 but there really isn't a huge difference in price plus in the case of Luxottica I know they are made in place with a living wage and no slave labor. Luxottica plays a lot games and does the mark up to mark down plus there is the whole insurance scheme they have which is really a discount program. People act shocked about eyeglasses but it is a fashion item and all high fashion has tremendous mark up, the glasses cost $10 to make and they sell for $150 well, the shirt cost $3 and they sell it for $80.
Your comment is spot on, i have tried so many sunglasses but keep coming to original ray bans, people who say that are the same must have a counterfeit, because unfortunately by being the best pair of sunglasses they get copied a lot so buy from a reputable seller.
I had two friends that were in sales for Luxottica, so I have a few Ray-Ban’s and a pair of Revos. I also had a friend when I was in elementary school down in Southern California whose dad worked for Oakley and even back then it cost about three dollars and they were selling for 100 bucks. Back in the 80s.
Oakley I could understand it was a young brand and NOBODY made styles like them. Everyone makes Aviators, and wayfarers. But don’t believe every pair of aviators are the same had some cheap prescription ones and in a week the color coating. rubbed off and I’d have green lines on my face.
If you want nice sunglasses go to shady rays. They offer a plethora of styles and tints and they are around 50$. Plus some of the profits go to help feeding kids and the homeless. And also kids with autism. They have already donated over 25 million meals and cleaned up more that 4.5 million plastic bottles from our oceans. If that doesnt sound good enough you can also get a mystery pair with an order for an extra 8$. My mystery pair was a blue tint wood frame worth 34$ that i got for 8$. And if you still aren't sure they offer a free replacement pair no questions asked if you break or lost your sunglasses. Fuck ray bands.
My Ray-Bans were the only prescription glasses that broke in three days. I was icefishing with some friends and with a *blop* my lense fell into the snow. I shouted "Nobody move!" and managed to recover it. Afterwards they were still awful.
There’s a sucker born every minute. This is why I buy a $10-$15 pair of cheap safety glasses: regardless of whether or not they’re polarized they actually help your eyes stay protected as well as look good. I take good care of mine and typically typically get 2 to 3 years of hard work out of them as I wear them everywhere. Cheers!
Aim for polarized pairs. It don't take a hundred bucks fo find a decent pair that are polarized. Rather my eyes don't get screwed more so than they already are.
I’ve had the same pair of Ray Ban Wayfares for over 7 years now, I bought them from Macy’s in Hilo, Big Island of Hawaii. They’ve been with me to Vegas, Mauna Kea, Pillbox Hill, working at 2 different outdoor jobs, all the beaches on Oahu, really everywhere I went they came with me. I’ve dropped them many times but they’ve never broken and they still look sharp. Lenses have some scratches but nothing major. I’m not trying to justify the markup or anything but I can stand behind the quality of these shades and say they’re worth the money. I spent $195 on them, I know that’s a lot, but they show no signs of breaking anytime soon.
I’ve never paid a thing for Ray-Ban sunglasses. I worked at a high-end golf course and they would just show up in the lost and found from time to time.
Luxottica (who owns ray ban, Oakley, LensCrafters, sunglass hut, etc.) own something like 70% of the western worlds glasses market. Around 1 billion people wear their glasses a year. A billion. They’re not a bad company to work for, BUT they’re ultra greedy. They consistently set unrealistic goals, and don’t hesitate to axe managers who don’t make them. And they rarely give a raise. A store manager barely makes anything more than your standard optician. And if the optician is licensed, it’s about the same. They’re an excellent starting point for a career in optometry or ophthalmology.
Optician here. We mark up glasses by 2.5 or 3 x the wholesale. My current practice sells all frames at 1/2 off this mark up. Most practices don't. Shop around.
They tend to use pretty decent material, offer decent warranties, up to date styles and the fit and finish is pretty nice, there are cheap brand that hit that mark just as well but way more cheap brands that dont, ive never spent more than $25 on a pair of sunglasses because you can definitely find good cheap sunglasses
Oakley's are worth the money. I ran mine over with a lawn mower, and all that happened was the Oakley logo popped off. Then I lost them. Broke my heart.
I scratched mine in 20minutes after a short drop from my lap i. The car to the ground. Switched to Costa del Mar glass lenses and havent scratched them after 2 years.
I love the argument of production, I'm not even sticking to sunglasses. Sofas, tvs, really anything cost almost nothing to make at a production level. What makes something cost money is the talent to come up with designs, talent to find the right market to target, talent to determine 10-20 year directions, and let's not forget the talent to manufacture and distribute. Say you pay illegally dirt cheap wages, it would still technically cost more than $10-$15 to produce those things. This is why the buyers market is such a great thing to have access to as well, because that's how you as a business can buy these things at significantly lower prices based off deals/negotiations to sell/promote their product. If it's such a scam, make something new and flashy like PIT Viper and enjoy your day. Don't hate your competition. Take advantage of your obscurity and explode on the scene
This is 100% true. I lived in McDonough, GA (south Atlanta) and my cousins worked at the Luxottica located there. He showed me several examples of the markups, and it’s insane.
I went to five below and bought 4 pairs of the Ray Ban style sunglasses. One for work. One for my car. One for the house. One for my wife's car. For 20 bucks, I'd say it's worth it to never need to look for a pair of sunglasses. Not to mention not carrying if they break.
I enjoy my sunnies except I always get ones that are certified safety glasses so I can use them while using an angle grinder they cost about $20 while offering alot of protection against both UV and physical damage
What I never understand about things like this is that it becomes a huge deal when some companies try to form a monopoly, like Google or Facebook etc. But then there are plenty of companies like luxottica who own like the entire market and noone cares.
@Rayyan Hashmi yeah and they have zero knowledge about quality of the stuff they are buying. Ask them to name one type of cloth or leather and they ll be clueless. That tells that they have no idea how to spend money.
As someone that worked at Luxottica, this is somewhat true. Depends on the brand/style and some other factors (like being handcrafted or made from an animal horn) that will determine if it’s manufactured in China or Italy. These days I wouldn’t be surprised if they opened up new manufacturing locations around the world. Plus they own 1800 contacts
Any private business can easily undercut their prices, but people keep buying them because of the brand. It's not capitalism, it's the lack of common sense.
Fragrances are even better for delicious markups, hence why every high fashion brands relies on them. Even as the cheapest product in the lineup, fragrance blows the doors off everything else in terms of margins.
Manufactures can’t sell to you because they manufacture in bulk. You need to buy 10000 sunglasses for them to make a deal with you. That’s why we have retailers. Yes, the markup is insane and markups should be limited to a maximum of 300%, but there is a need for retailers and they need to make profit on their stock, so they can use that profit to run their facilities. 1000% markup does not just end up in some fat bastards back pocket while he sits on a beach smoking
Learned this when I got my first job with vision benefits about 20 years ago. Wanted some frames and they said I’d have to pay $500 on top of my benefits. I memorized the model number and went online and saw how much cheaper it was to just buy the frames from a warehouse. Industry is definitely insane
used to have a pair of ray bans but when they wore out after a couple years, i bought a couple pairs for $5 on cigar bid and have been using them for years
How is it legal? I thought Amazon was being sued for being a “monopoly” even though they had fair prices, but now this company can monopolize almost all the glasses market???
I used to be a die-hard ray-ban and Maui Jim fan until a broke a few pair. Now I wear QUAY. Great style and very economical. I’m over high priced brands!
This goes the same for most smartphone companies like Apple & Samsung. Realistically wouldnt cost up to $1000 or more but from labor and many other things that’s the price we decide to pay.
I recently contacted a factory in China that makes speakers, after getting into contact with one of the owners he explained to me which companies manufacture through them. I asked him what it costs to make and he told me, if they manufacture a speaker they spend around 300$ and the company who's brand is on there sells that same speaker for 1200$.
You also forgot to mention that Luxotica also own most of the largest online and high street retailers, meaning they can control exactly what is stocked. Stocking only their premium sunglasses and preventing any lower priced competitors from making a dent in the market. It’s crazy how far their monopoly goes
You may think it’s crazy but I’ve had mine for over ten years, served me well in the military, in the field, now I wear them doing construction. I’ve more than gotten my money’s worth and they haven’t broken or scratched hardly at all.
Step 1: buy cheap gas station sunglasses Step 2: wear them until badly scratched or broken Step 3: buy new pair of cheap gas station sunglasses Step 4: go back to Step 2
This is why i never pay more than 10-15$ for polarized sunglasses. I always get mine from kmart being how disposable they can be. Either they break or you forget them somewhere lol
Other "high end" manufacturers are Altair/Marchon. Glasses under this brand are things like bebe. Luxottica also manufactures the cheap pairs that medicaid covers.
Food brands are the same. I work for a large Scottish dairy and we make products for all sorts of companies and just change the name. Asda and our own brand Skyr are identical, Tesco Quark yoghurt is the same as ours, Aldi milk is ours with a new label. Sainsbury’s “Taste the difference” cream is identical to M&S cream which is identical to our cream. M&S butter, Aldi butter and McCallums (Aldi own brand with a higher price tag and assured Scottish) butter are just ours with different foil. Used to do Lidle as well but we stopped supplying to them because they were just a pain in the neck demanding constant changes, cancelling orders, putting in large orders with zero notice and so on. Even when I worked for Matheisons bakers the fresh cream products were made with the same recipies only Aldi wanted a different shape.
I work for luxottica, but in retail it's not common to have a 3x mark up for every time it passes hands, from manufacturer to store/opticien. Just wear what you like and what works for you. I've got an insanely comfy pair of Serengeti sunglasses from the 90s that I'll never trade in for anything.
Corporate conglomerates should be outlawed. Subsidiaries of subsidiaries etc. Its the modern day monopoly. The buy up the competition, the entire supply line for their industry and are essentially monopolies
Fun fact…most people selling “fakes” are actually selling the real product that got discarded from the factory…sometimes not even having any defect at all.
Production cost and market value are 2 different things. These are designer sunglasses and they have lots of cheap competition. It’s only a monopoly if the consumer has no other options and the only ones allowed a true monopoly are government agencies.
Luxotica is located in Mason, Ohio where I used to live. I've known about this for decades. Every "designer" pair of glasses you see is some cheap sh*t with a printed logo.
Warby Parker makes glasses that are just as good quality as Luxottica if not better for the fraction of the price and they donate glasses to developing countries.
I have prescription lenses so I'm not sure how much this changes things. However, I've noticed my more expensive frames have outlined the cheaper pairs. $60 frames are appealing, but I only got one year out of them before they started to deteriorate. I change my lenses every year my ray bans are coming up on 9 years of usage and no issues.
I've used a British website for years, that has the prescription lenses machined in Hong Kong, imports the frames from India, assembles them in the UK and ships worldwide. Their cash price is less than half what you would pay out of pocket with insurance for the usual Luxottica brands, and their unbranded glasses are impossibly cheap.
we need a modernized sherman antitrust act for companies like these
We?😂
sherman antitrust barely did shit anyway
Sherman was actually bad. It was actually mostly used against unions.
To do what? The government can't manage anything.
Good luck regulating a global economy
If you think that's messed up, learn about how Luxottica acquired Oakley sunglasses. Short story is that they threatened them, crashed their stock, and then bought them out for a dirt cheap price. Oakley glasses were sold in Luxottica owned stores. Oakley told them that they were charging too much. Luxottica didn't like that and crushed them.
That's always a risk you run when you take your company public
@bigisrick unfortunately for Oakley, you're right.
To be fair, if you're shopping at Luxottica, you deserve to get your wallet drained. Everything they sell is 2000% markup
Yeah I also watched the Adam video
oh right, shorting the stock?
"Why do you charge so much?"
"Because you keep buying them."
The demand is crazy
Capitalism
"Why do you keep buying them?"
"Because there is no other option."
It's the chicken or the egg scenario - which comes first? The demand from the consumer's due to supply or the supply from the manufacturer due to the demand?
@@PrabhablyAGoodUA-camr umm... You do realize there are more sunglasses than just Ray Bans, right? There is a plethora of options that aren't overpriced Ray Bans.
@@PrabhablyAGoodUA-camr As an optician who refuses to deal with Luxottica, i can tell you. Customers want that crap.
Long story short, you're not paying for the product. You're paying for the brand.
What brand, this is a ducking cartel
@@abhishekmaurya4665 you think Ray Bands is a... cartel?
@@nimzi4479 by definition of cartel yes.
@@abhishekmaurya4665 by definition, they're not restricting their competition,they just don't have many competitors. It's not like they're burning down Warby Parker and Oakley factories because they are taking customers away. They don't have a monopoly on sunglasses, they built up their brand,and went with the prices their customers told them the sunglasses were worth.
@@nimzi4479 And I wonder why Oakley dont have alot of competitors? Because they were brought by a bigger company with other subsidiaries related to sunglasses and more. You dont understand the world of business.
"Where else are you gonna go?" is an apt question since they own the retail side of the business too.
They own the brick and mortar stores.
@@deanonesense yep
The dollar store! It’s the last refuge for affordable sunglasses.
Amazon- am i a joke to you
Lenskart- yeah i even got cheaper
Literally just steal them.
The employee's aren't paid enough to chase you all the way home 💀
Lux is like the YKK of glasses, except YKK doesn’t sell their zippers for $300
it s different, is not a final retail product
True but ykk zippers lasts years
YKK does make better zippers then everyone else tho and dont have a huge mark up, meanwhile theres plenty of cheap sunglasses that meet the same style and quality at a fraction of the price so not really the same thing at all
YKK is very famous for their quality. I live in Pakistan and I own a production plant of Beekeeping and workwear clothing. We import YKK zippers to use on our products, our foreign and local customers all ask for YKK zippers
@@doitdifferent2629 do you sell the Clothing in Pakistan too?
Monopolies are why we need to start getting out the guillotines again
Fair enough
Or you know, antitrust laws
Government permits it and profits from it. If something is bad for the government, it wouldn't be allowed to happen.
@@albertoossola1481nah, let’s stick to guillotines
@@albertoossola1481there is no political solution bud. The government is bought and sold.
I don’t think people understand how much our society has become a monopoly, our food is controlled by like 4 companies that all talk to each other. And all they have to do is keep giving money to law makers (who made bribing legal for themselves) so they vote the way the companies want.
Food, medicine, education, news, weapons, travel and so many other things are all largely controlled by Vanguard and BlackRock and a couple of other companies
@@mohammedyakub3760 Nestle scares me the most. Controls a lot of our food in America.
That my friend is called the Illuminati or NWO, more people need to wake up to this
And social media is pushed to distract the majority (youth) with useless stuff like Hollywood drama, and shit
thats capitalism babyyyyyy
“Where else are you gonna go?”
Me : *opens AliExpress*
best comment
Me: i know a guy who knows a guy
Imagine a plot twist where the glasses on Ali Express are also manufactured by Lux
All polycarbonate lenses stop UVA and UVB radiation. It doesn't matter if they are $1000 designer brand or $2 gas station glasses.
Yeah but the gas station glasses look ugly af
I own cheap and expensive ones. The cheap ones are MUCH weaker in blocking the sun, and also have extremely poor clarity and contrast. Tried them side by side many times.
@Luggruff they might not block visible light as well and the optical clarity might be less, but the UV blockage is the same.
So still lesser.
As long as your sun glasses offer proper UV protection then you’re good. Amazon is my go to spot these days.
How do we know its even have uv protection and don't mess up you eye? Amazon review? 😂
@@anubizz3 the store I work at sells em for 4 euro each
😂 prices set titsy bit too high in most stores.
Can you borrow a billion dollars from a bank and then use that money to buy the bank?
It's now EssliorLuxottica
If we’re being completely honest, if the exact same pair of sunglasses were for sale right next to each other, and one was called Sunray and sold for twenty bucks whilst the other was called Raysun and sold for two hundred dollars, people would probably buy the Raysuns for the status.
Status is THE key to brand sales!
I feel like this is common in most industries
I don’t blame them it’s smart
To some extent. Shoe companies and clothing brands do the same thing
@@princemoneycat5294 it's exploitative.
It's common but not well known.
This is luxury items in a nutshell
I worked as a truck driver and delivered materials for Luxottica, i also got once to walk in a factory, i have to say, they use the best plastic ( base plastic comes from Switzerland) and in a pair of glasses goes more hand finishing than i imagined, i didn't expeted to have so many steps and so much quality control over every single pair, once out of the factory i understoo where the money goes. Also the manufacturing is done in Europe ( mostly Italy) where wages are high so they don't employ kids in a factory in Bangladesh. Not to mention their glasses are actually very good quality. I wear glasses due to poor vision and the first pairs were cheaper alternatives because i couldn't see the values, after often broken glases i bought a pair of raybans and it's still lasting. If they wouldn't provide the value people would not buy from them
I was going to comment that a lot of what they make is very good, they basically got a monopoly by being the "best", Luxottica and Safilo(arguably my last pair of safilo glasses were better than the luxottica ones I have now) make the best frames, best plastics, hinges and finish bar none that's how you become #1 and #2. Most of their competition manufactures in China and cuts corners, some are decent but many are of lower quality. When I was a child the optometrist always recommended luxottica and he'd tell you which brands were made by them and even steer you towards cheaper brands they were making. Only a sucker pays retail you can find luxottica frames all day long for less than $100 sometimes $75 and complete glass for $100-150. Generally if the eyeglass says made in Italy, Japan, or Germany they will be high quality and last a long time. Comparatively you can buy glasses by Zenni for like $35 but they are pretty cheap quality or Warby Parker for around $100 but there really isn't a huge difference in price plus in the case of Luxottica I know they are made in place with a living wage and no slave labor.
Luxottica plays a lot games and does the mark up to mark down plus there is the whole insurance scheme they have which is really a discount program. People act shocked about eyeglasses but it is a fashion item and all high fashion has tremendous mark up, the glasses cost $10 to make and they sell for $150 well, the shirt cost $3 and they sell it for $80.
Your comment is spot on, i have tried so many sunglasses but keep coming to original ray bans, people who say that are the same must have a counterfeit, because unfortunately by being the best pair of sunglasses they get copied a lot so buy from a reputable seller.
I had two friends that were in sales for Luxottica, so I have a few Ray-Ban’s and a pair of Revos. I also had a friend when I was in elementary school down in Southern California whose dad worked for Oakley and even back then it cost about three dollars and they were selling for 100 bucks. Back in the 80s.
Oakley I could understand it was a young brand and NOBODY made styles like them. Everyone makes Aviators, and wayfarers. But don’t believe every pair of aviators are the same had some cheap prescription ones and in a week the color coating. rubbed off and I’d have green lines on my face.
@@zacharyradford5552 technically aviators is a Ray-Ban product
Thanks for exposing the truth about the industry! I’m starting to realize that this is truth about fashion, cosmetics, etc.
Bro know every single exploit in the world 💀
It's not exploits. It's just being a wise consumer.
What the other guy said and plus it's called capitalism
this is pretty commonly known stuff
@@gregdubya1993 so ur telling me I spent $300 on sunglasses that are worth 15 😭😭. I like them still tho
@@RakanA value is whatever the consumer will pay. I get my aviators at Dollar General for $7.
If you want nice sunglasses go to shady rays. They offer a plethora of styles and tints and they are around 50$. Plus some of the profits go to help feeding kids and the homeless. And also kids with autism. They have already donated over 25 million meals and cleaned up more that 4.5 million plastic bottles from our oceans. If that doesnt sound good enough you can also get a mystery pair with an order for an extra 8$. My mystery pair was a blue tint wood frame worth 34$ that i got for 8$. And if you still aren't sure they offer a free replacement pair no questions asked if you break or lost your sunglasses.
Fuck ray bands.
My Ray-Bans were the only prescription glasses that broke in three days. I was icefishing with some friends and with a *blop* my lense fell into the snow. I shouted "Nobody move!" and managed to recover it. Afterwards they were still awful.
The frame is Ray-Bans. The lens are not. It sounds like the lenses were not cut to the frames correctly, or the screws were too loose.
The perfect example of why brands are literally a scam
He woke up, saw the sun, tried to get sunglasses, and chose violence
There’s a sucker born every minute. This is why I buy a $10-$15 pair of cheap safety glasses: regardless of whether or not they’re polarized they actually help your eyes stay protected as well as look good. I take good care of mine and typically typically get 2 to 3 years of hard work out of them as I wear them everywhere. Cheers!
Aim for polarized pairs. It don't take a hundred bucks fo find a decent pair that are polarized. Rather my eyes don't get screwed more so than they already are.
zennioptical is a website that lets you buy custom glasses for dirt cheap. perscription, polarized, safety rated, all for like $20
I’ve had the same pair of Ray Ban Wayfares for over 7 years now, I bought them from Macy’s in Hilo, Big Island of Hawaii. They’ve been with me to Vegas, Mauna Kea, Pillbox Hill, working at 2 different outdoor jobs, all the beaches on Oahu, really everywhere I went they came with me. I’ve dropped them many times but they’ve never broken and they still look sharp. Lenses have some scratches but nothing major. I’m not trying to justify the markup or anything but I can stand behind the quality of these shades and say they’re worth the money. I spent $195 on them, I know that’s a lot, but they show no signs of breaking anytime soon.
You aren't buying a product, you are buying a label.
Keep the label and give me the product
@@mikebar42 if only.
I’ve never paid a thing for Ray-Ban sunglasses. I worked at a high-end golf course and they would just show up in the lost and found from time to time.
Luxottica (who owns ray ban, Oakley, LensCrafters, sunglass hut, etc.) own something like 70% of the western worlds glasses market. Around 1 billion people wear their glasses a year. A billion.
They’re not a bad company to work for, BUT they’re ultra greedy. They consistently set unrealistic goals, and don’t hesitate to axe managers who don’t make them. And they rarely give a raise. A store manager barely makes anything more than your standard optician. And if the optician is licensed, it’s about the same. They’re an excellent starting point for a career in optometry or ophthalmology.
Wow a name brand fashion company is overpriced? This is a shocking revelation to us
that's why I am okay with black markets for these things if they priced them fairly.
Optician here. We mark up glasses by 2.5 or 3 x the wholesale. My current practice sells all frames at 1/2 off this mark up. Most practices don't. Shop around.
My definition of "if you own the market, you can put any price you want"
This guy is giving you truth about most products and "elite brands"!
We need people like him in politics
They tend to use pretty decent material, offer decent warranties, up to date styles and the fit and finish is pretty nice, there are cheap brand that hit that mark just as well but way more cheap brands that dont, ive never spent more than $25 on a pair of sunglasses because you can definitely find good cheap sunglasses
yes agreed it’s not worth spending more than that. for me it’s also because i find sunglasses so easy to lose than i would never get expensive ones!
Oakley's are worth the money. I ran mine over with a lawn mower, and all that happened was the Oakley logo popped off. Then I lost them. Broke my heart.
Oakleys were initially cheap until Luxottica played dirty with them.
That's exactly why I refuse to pay more than $10-$15 for sunglasses. Never could keep them from disappearing long enough to justify high costs.
@@CLove511 same. I bought a $160 pair of Ray-Bans and left them at a junk yard after the Oakley's. $20 max nowadays.
I scratched mine in 20minutes after a short drop from my lap i. The car to the ground. Switched to Costa del Mar glass lenses and havent scratched them after 2 years.
I love the argument of production, I'm not even sticking to sunglasses. Sofas, tvs, really anything cost almost nothing to make at a production level.
What makes something cost money is the talent to come up with designs, talent to find the right market to target, talent to determine 10-20 year directions, and let's not forget the talent to manufacture and distribute. Say you pay illegally dirt cheap wages, it would still technically cost more than $10-$15 to produce those things. This is why the buyers market is such a great thing to have access to as well, because that's how you as a business can buy these things at significantly lower prices based off deals/negotiations to sell/promote their product.
If it's such a scam, make something new and flashy like PIT Viper and enjoy your day. Don't hate your competition. Take advantage of your obscurity and explode on the scene
1000% and 1000x are not the same thing. I thought you were some kind of maths/accounting genius?!
He's right, tf are you on about?
This is 100% true. I lived in McDonough, GA (south Atlanta) and my cousins worked at the Luxottica located there. He showed me several examples of the markups, and it’s insane.
You forgot to mention .. who owns EyeMed? Luxottica. Who owns LensCrafters? Luxottica.
also sunglasshut
I went to five below and bought 4 pairs of the Ray Ban style sunglasses. One for work. One for my car. One for the house. One for my wife's car. For 20 bucks, I'd say it's worth it to never need to look for a pair of sunglasses. Not to mention not carrying if they break.
That’s why I stole my pairs of sunglasses. This is the cheapest you can get
They'd go out of business if nobody bought them. Blame the consumer.
I enjoy my sunnies except I always get ones that are certified safety glasses so I can use them while using an angle grinder they cost about $20 while offering alot of protection against both UV and physical damage
this is true for any and all brands. they mark up the price to make a profit. that’s how a business works.
Shady Rays. Two year replacements, offer 20-30% off coupons just for adding glasses to your cart and closing the window
Better be careful my friend. You are exposing the big businesses and they wouldn’t like it.
Lmfaooo relax
What I never understand about things like this is that it becomes a huge deal when some companies try to form a monopoly, like Google or Facebook etc. But then there are plenty of companies like luxottica who own like the entire market and noone cares.
I work for them and it feels so weird but I reccomend the cheaper stuff man it's all fairly similar
I’ve had the cheaper the color wore off and I had green lines on my face.
I LOVE Shady Rays. $43 a pair, free replacement for lost or damaged just pay shipping. They for great & hold up incredibly well. ❤
Tell this to the ladies. Guys don't usually care much about the brands.
bro fr these ladies want the most expensive stuff.
@Rayyan Hashmi yeah and they have zero knowledge about quality of the stuff they are buying. Ask them to name one type of cloth or leather and they ll be clueless. That tells that they have no idea how to spend money.
As someone that worked at Luxottica, this is somewhat true. Depends on the brand/style and some other factors (like being handcrafted or made from an animal horn) that will determine if it’s manufactured in China or Italy. These days I wouldn’t be surprised if they opened up new manufacturing locations around the world. Plus they own 1800 contacts
Any private business can easily undercut their prices, but people keep buying them because of the brand. It's not capitalism, it's the lack of common sense.
My heart is broken 😢… my favorite glasses brand exposed like this
Designer brand clothing/accessories is the best way to stay poor
Fragrances are even better for delicious markups, hence why every high fashion brands relies on them. Even as the cheapest product in the lineup, fragrance blows the doors off everything else in terms of margins.
Isn’t 1000% markup supposed to mean 11x as good instead of 1000x as good?
It doesn't mean either of those things.
Manufactures can’t sell to you because they manufacture in bulk. You need to buy 10000 sunglasses for them to make a deal with you. That’s why we have retailers. Yes, the markup is insane and markups should be limited to a maximum of 300%, but there is a need for retailers and they need to make profit on their stock, so they can use that profit to run their facilities. 1000% markup does not just end up in some fat bastards back pocket while he sits on a beach smoking
Learned this when I got my first job with vision benefits about 20 years ago. Wanted some frames and they said I’d have to pay $500 on top of my benefits. I memorized the model number and went online and saw how much cheaper it was to just buy the frames from a warehouse.
Industry is definitely insane
used to have a pair of ray bans but when they wore out after a couple years, i bought a couple pairs for $5 on cigar bid and have been using them for years
Bro really teaching the Karen’s how to fuck with us retail workers 😂.
This guy: 1000%= 1000 times
His math teacher: 🗿🗿🗿
How is it legal? I thought Amazon was being sued for being a “monopoly” even though they had fair prices, but now this company can monopolize almost all the glasses market???
I used to be a die-hard ray-ban and Maui Jim fan until a broke a few pair. Now I wear QUAY. Great style and very economical. I’m over high priced brands!
5-15$ is pushin it…more like 2$ a pair 😂
This goes the same for most smartphone companies like Apple & Samsung. Realistically wouldnt cost up to $1000 or more but from labor and many other things that’s the price we decide to pay.
This is why I don’t feel bad buying knockoffs! 😂
So crazy the mark up and the monopoly. But investing in duopoly’s are awesome 😃
Remember, it’s governments that allow monopolies
I recently contacted a factory in China that makes speakers, after getting into contact with one of the owners he explained to me which companies manufacture through them. I asked him what it costs to make and he told me, if they manufacture a speaker they spend around 300$ and the company who's brand is on there sells that same speaker for 1200$.
be it as it may, i've had other glasses' frames break on me but my raybans have been going strong for years now
You also forgot to mention that Luxotica also own most of the largest online and high street retailers, meaning they can control exactly what is stocked. Stocking only their premium sunglasses and preventing any lower priced competitors from making a dent in the market. It’s crazy how far their monopoly goes
My prescription glasses only cost me 30 bucks, all because I simply stay away from “brand names”
You may think it’s crazy but I’ve had mine for over ten years, served me well in the military, in the field, now I wear them doing construction. I’ve more than gotten my money’s worth and they haven’t broken or scratched hardly at all.
Step 1: buy cheap gas station sunglasses
Step 2: wear them until badly scratched or broken
Step 3: buy new pair of cheap gas station sunglasses
Step 4: go back to Step 2
This is why i never pay more than 10-15$ for polarized sunglasses. I always get mine from kmart being how disposable they can be. Either they break or you forget them somewhere lol
Really glad sunglasses are the most lost and forgotten accessory. Otherwise i wouldnt have a pair of ray bans.
not just sunglasses...regular glasses, too. I just paid about twice for my new set over the old one.
This why, imo the only time name brand matters is electronics and musical instruments
Other "high end" manufacturers are Altair/Marchon. Glasses under this brand are things like bebe.
Luxottica also manufactures the cheap pairs that medicaid covers.
Food brands are the same. I work for a large Scottish dairy and we make products for all sorts of companies and just change the name. Asda and our own brand Skyr are identical, Tesco Quark yoghurt is the same as ours, Aldi milk is ours with a new label. Sainsbury’s “Taste the difference” cream is identical to M&S cream which is identical to our cream. M&S butter, Aldi butter and McCallums (Aldi own brand with a higher price tag and assured Scottish) butter are just ours with different foil. Used to do Lidle as well but we stopped supplying to them because they were just a pain in the neck demanding constant changes, cancelling orders, putting in large orders with zero notice and so on.
Even when I worked for Matheisons bakers the fresh cream products were made with the same recipies only Aldi wanted a different shape.
Yep saw a report on this several years ago the Italian company owns nearly all the worlds eyeglasses.
marketing and social popularity drives price up. corporate greed fuels it all.
I work for luxottica, but in retail it's not common to have a 3x mark up for every time it passes hands, from manufacturer to store/opticien. Just wear what you like and what works for you. I've got an insanely comfy pair of Serengeti sunglasses from the 90s that I'll never trade in for anything.
Corporate conglomerates should be outlawed. Subsidiaries of subsidiaries etc. Its the modern day monopoly. The buy up the competition, the entire supply line for their industry and are essentially monopolies
Buying off of Amazon eliminates any markup because there's always another brand cheaper and just as good
"Ok, order up for 1000 pairs."
"Wait no I only ordered 1 pair"
Fun fact…most people selling “fakes” are actually selling the real product that got discarded from the factory…sometimes not even having any defect at all.
Luxottica did Oakley so dirty and I’ll never forgive them for it
I got my sunglasses for 2.40rm (0.54 cents USD), used it for 3 years, still works like a charm :D
That is exactly why I tell them “I did not get the item delivered, please refund me”.
Production cost and market value are 2 different things. These are designer sunglasses and they have lots of cheap competition. It’s only a monopoly if the consumer has no other options and the only ones allowed a true monopoly are government agencies.
And that's why you buy Randolph engineering. Hand made in USA and official supplier to pilots in the USAF, USN and USMC
I'm in the plastic injection manufacturing business. One of our medical customers has a 1500% mark up on their product.
Prada & Burberry make 2 of my fave sunglasses. This pisses me off that I’m paying hundreds for $15 sunglasses
"Where else are you gonna go?"
The sunglasses rack at the drug store, thanks.
A 1000% markup is a 10x price hike. Puts the profit margin at 90% of revenue.
Ombraz, sick sunglasses, indestructible, and absurdly comfortable
Luxotica is located in Mason, Ohio where I used to live. I've known about this for decades. Every "designer" pair of glasses you see is some cheap sh*t with a printed logo.
This is why you get your prescriptions and go online to a independent retailer two pair of glasses with glass lenses 45 bucks.
Warby Parker makes glasses that are just as good quality as Luxottica if not better for the fraction of the price and they donate glasses to developing countries.
I have prescription lenses so I'm not sure how much this changes things. However, I've noticed my more expensive frames have outlined the cheaper pairs. $60 frames are appealing, but I only got one year out of them before they started to deteriorate. I change my lenses every year my ray bans are coming up on 9 years of usage and no issues.
I've used a British website for years, that has the prescription lenses machined in Hong Kong, imports the frames from India, assembles them in the UK and ships worldwide. Their cash price is less than half what you would pay out of pocket with insurance for the usual Luxottica brands, and their unbranded glasses are impossibly cheap.