Sunglasses

Safilo, Marcolin, Marchon, and De Rigo, produce the vast majority of the world's sunglasses. These are all a cluster of family-controlled companies in the mountainous province of Belluno in Italy. The biggest of them, Luxottica, had sales of €4.7 billion ($5.9 billion) last year.

Brands owned by Luxxotica:
- LensCrafters, America's biggest optical retailer, in 1995
- Ray-Ban, acquired in 1999, (43% of wholesale sales)
- Oakley, a California-based maker of sunglasses
- ILORI - a new retail chain for ultra-fashionable (meaning very expensive)
- Lucrative contract-licences from Burberry(British fashion house), Polo Ralph Lauren (American), Tiffany (American jeweller)

Sunglasses are the third-fastest growing category in luxury goods after shoes and handbags. Newly rich Russians, among others, are buying such items at hitherto unthinkable prices. Hermès makes a $140,000 handbag and Montblanc sells a pen for $700,000. So, why not persuade folks to spend $10,000 on a pair of sunglasses?

Economist, August 2007