It’s that time of year: Fashion Week. We’re in the midst of London’s outing which is the second of the big four (also made up of New York, Milan and Paris) and both established and up-and-coming designers from around the world are displaying what will inevitably become next year’s big trends.
Whether on the catwalk or stealing the street style spotlight, eyewear is everywhere. From Prada to Chanel, Versace to Oakley, sunglasses, in particular, have been a big player in recent fashion history; think Audrey Hepburn’s cat eye shades in Breakfast at Tiffany’s or the classic Ray Ban Aviators that were originally designed in the 1930s but had a resurgence after the success of Top Gun 2 in 2022. And it’s not just shades that have dominated; back in the 2010s thick framed glasses sans prescription lenses had a big moment, whilst these days, thinner framed, 70s style glasses are top of everyone’s wish list.
Despite ever-evolving trends, I’ve noticed how many people opt for designer or luxury glasses and sunglasses compared to apparel where brands like Zara, Cos and Mango are seeing the most growth. The numbers back this up too – the luxury sunglasses market is predicted to have a compound annual growth rate of 7.8% from now until 2033. In short, people are willing to spend on designer eyewear.
But why? What makes eyewear different from bags, belts and other accessories? Simply put, eyewear is a way of making designer brands more accessible to a wider range of income brackets. For example, if you were to walk into a Chanel boutique and ask to buy the Small Classic Handbag, you would be quoted the price of £8,510 which for many people is inaccessible. Walk into the same boutique and buy a pair of new season Oval sunglasses and it would be £460. For nearly £8,000 less, you would leave with a pair of current season sunglasses that you can wear every day.
From a business perspective, selling eyewear makes sense thanks to low production costs and high sales prices. Two former executives of LensCrafters admitted back in 2019 that the markup on glasses could be around 1000%, whereas for a designer item of clothing, the markup is significantly lower at around 50% to 80%. This markup proves how low production costs are when a pair of designer frames retail at around the £300 mark. It’s the best of both worlds for eyewear retailers.
“In short, people are willing to spend on designer eyewear.”
You could compare designer eyewear to designer lipstick. A Dior lipstick, for example, could cost a consumer around £30-£40, which sits at the top end of its sector’s price range, whereas eyewear, despite being more expensive, is on the lower price end of Dior’s fashion offerings. Branding also plays a major role in the draw towards designer items. The Dior lipstick may look beautiful on but there is nothing that marks it as designer, aside from the packaging. In contrast, the logo is often seen on the arm of the frames, clearly signifying which label made them.
Except, did they? Many luxury brands license out their eyewear to the conglomerates Luxottica and Safilo who dominate the majority of the fashion eyewear space. This means that top designer brands, like Chanel, Prada, Moschino and Boss pass over the baton to these companies to design, produce and distribute its eyewear. So, despite having the logos and being sold under the designers’ names, they have no hand in the creation process. This is big business – 80% of the industry’s unit sales are tied to licensing. So, it’s perhaps surprising that eyewear isn’t talked about more when Safilo is turning over around €1 billion and Luxottica, an astounding €25 billion. This is not purely from their license agreements, both brands have also acquired big industry names such as Ray Ban and Polaroid, but licensing does currently seem to account for the majority of their success.
However, it looks like this could be set to change. Earlier this year, Luxottica acquired American streetwear brand, Supreme for $1.5 billion which signalled a potential shift in the future direction of the conglomerate. Think of Supreme, and eyewear isn’t the first thing that comes to mind, instead, the brand is best known for its t-shirts and sweatshirts, an area that Luxottica currently doesn’t occupy. Is this its first move outside of eyewear and into apparel?
Perhaps Luxottica plans to follow in the footsteps of LVMH, who has dominated the luxury sector, owning brands including Celine, Fendi, Sephora, TAG Heuer and Moët & Chandon and taking an annual turnover of around €86 billion. It has such a significant influence on the sector, that just this summer, it entered into a sponsorship deal worth around €160 million with the Paris Olympic Games which saw Louis Vuitton medal boxes, and Lady Gaga dressed head to toe in Dior for her Opening Ceremony performance on the banks of the Seine.
Reporting a profit margin of 18.8% and gross profit of over €8.5 billion in its Q2 results, Luxottica’s dominance of the eyewear space proves that it isn’t one to be overlooked. But it’s recent acquisition of Supreme does beg the question, why stop there? Could we see eyewear brands further branching out into apparel? And should luxury brands be taking note of the scale of eyewear and considering their future relationships with the sector? I’d love to know your thoughts.
