Luxury Eyesight
5 HN recommenders · recommended in 7 months, 2014–2023
12:56 · 395K views · Oct 26, 2013
A 60 Minutes segment on Luxottica, the company that owns most major eyewear brands and retailers and dominates the market. It shows how consolidation of brands and manufacturing affects glasses prices.
HN repeatedly cites it in any thread on why glasses are expensive, as the eye-opening explanation of Luxottica's monopoly.
9 comments from Hacker News
Glasses are expensive because there is no competition. One company - Luxottica - owns pretty much everything. You go to LensCrafters and prices seem super expensive, so you go to Pearle Vision and that's expensive too, so you go to Target Optical and prices are still high and then you think maybe glasses are expensive, since you went to multiple stores and they all have similar prices. What you don't realize is that all those retail brands are owned by the same company - Luxottica [1]. They operate under several names, so there is an appearance of competition but there isn't. But wait, it isn't just stores, they also own eyewear brands such as Ray-Ban, Chanel, Coach, Oakley, Prada, Tiffany, and so on. Yes, all of those brands are owned by Luxottica [2]. Wait, not done yet. They also own insurance. Luxottica owns the vision insurance company EyeMed. [3] Still not done. Luxottica has merged with Essilor and now own multiple lens brands [4]. See 60 Minutes story on Luxottica if you're not outraged yet [5]. Where are the anti-trust enforcers in this country and other countries, and why are they not doing anything? [1] [LINK] [2] [LINK] [3] [LINK] [4] [LINK] [5] this video
The reason glasses cost so much is because one company owns: (1) nearly all brand name frames including Ray-Ban, Oakley, Prada eyewear, Armani eyewear and so on, (2) nearly all retail stores such as LensCrafters, Pearle Vision, Sears Optical and Target Optical and (3) EyeMed, one of the largest vision insurance companies. See this eye-opening 60 Minutes story on Luxottica: this video Luxottica retail brands: [LINK] Luxottica eyewear brands: [LINK] Luxottica vision insurance: [LINK] In the US, only Costco and Walmart's optical departments are independent of Luxottica.
These are really just design houses that aggregate brand names and manufacture largely in China. this video is a great watch if you have time. Nothing too surprising to those that understand where this stuff comes from, but certainly interesting to see it laid out.
It's the same with eyewear. Check out the 60 Minutes story on Luxottica: this video They control over 80% of the global market, from manufacturing, to opticians, retail stores, and brands, including the second largest vision benefits company in the US.
The 60 minutes episode on Luxottica and why glasses are so expensive was interesting context for reading about Warby Parker. this video