15 ms·

Glasses are expensive because there is no competition. One company - Luxottica - owns pretty much everything. You go to LensCrafters and prices seem super expe

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] https://www.luxottica.com/en/retail-brands https://www.luxottica.com/en/retail-brands [2] https://www.luxottica.com/en/eyewear-brands https://www.luxottica.com/en/eyewear-brands [3] https://eyemed.com/en-us/about-us https://eyemed.com/en-us/about-us [4] https://www.essilorluxottica.com/brands https://www.essilorluxottica.com/brands [5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDdq2rIqAlM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDdq2rIqAlM

nnoitra 4y ago
This comment slowly escalated to the point where I thought the next line would be: "They also own your eyes".
Eddy_Viscosity2 4y ago
It's almost as if monopolies are bad. I also thought they were illegal. Why hasn't Luxottica been broken up by antitrust laws?
planetsprite 4y ago
Why can't a new company simply undercut the competition? I don't imagine the barriers to entry are too high for manufacturing glasses, are they?
- selcuka 4y ago
  > Why can't a new company simply undercut the competition? They can and they do [1]. They just don't have the same marketing budget, so you don't hear as much about them. [1] https://www.zennioptical.com/ https://www.zennioptical.com/
  - at_compile_time 4y ago
    I'll second this recommendation. I've had the same pair of $35 glasses for 5 years now, I wear them every day, and they're still good as new.
  - adzm 4y ago
    Not to mention the pupillary distance is not commonly included on optical prescriptions which creates a significant hurdle, even though it can be measured yourself or usually given when asked.
    - hyperbovine 4y ago
      Zenni will send you a cool little cardboard ruler that sits on the bridge of your nose to measure PD. It suffices (I am wearing my Zenni frames as I write this). I hate hate hate EssilorLuxxotica.
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
    - wrycoder 4y ago
      My ophthalmologist claimed he didn’t have the equipment to add PD to his prescription. Bald-faced liar. BTW, the app is called PD Measure.
      - epmaybe 4y ago
        Ophthalmologist or optometrist? Very different, and I think the difference needs to be overstated more and more.
bagels 4y ago
Yeah, it's interesting. People get outraged about tech monopolies... but something we spend hundreds of dollars each year on, that's just fine.
- int_19h 4y ago
  People get outraged about things that they know about. (Most) tech monopolies don't attempt to hide behind many different brands.
  - BiteCode_dev 4y ago
    And yet, most people don't know google own Waze, Youtube, Gmail, Android, Chrome, Chromecast and so on. They also don't realize most sites use Google Analytics, meaning your activity on a site completely unrelated to google is still recorded. They don't realize that Meta own not just Facebook, but also Instagram, WhatsApp or Oculus. They also don't realize all sites that use "share with facebook" send date to facebook, meaning your activity on a site completely unrelated to FB is still recorded. We know that on HN, but ask somebody in the street, they barely know what a URL is, how would they understand a monopoly?
    - int_19h 4y ago
      Anecdotal, but the non-techies on my personal circle are, on average, more critical of Google and Facebook than techies are. And they understand that those are monopolies on a very visceral level - because it's so hard to escape from them as a casual user.
imroot 4y ago
I worked on the retail IT side of things at Luxottica. I don't even think that you've scratched the surface of just how prevalent Luxottica is: you've touched the retail side of things, but, you also haven't touched the manufacturing side of things (Lux has patents on the hinges used in glasses), the wholesaling side of things (Lux supplies generic and branded frames to your local optician on less-than-preferred terms), and then just the genetic beast that is their optimization efforts. I discovered some ineffective linux and db management that was adding 15-30 minutes of closing time every night -- time where we'd have employees on the clock waiting to close the store -- and figured out why it was behaving the way that it was and fixed it so the 'point of sales' part of closing wouldn't be the hold up. Saved the company almost 13 million dollars a year in labor costs and 45 million in licensing costs when I came up with a way to replace the POS systems OS without needing a cross-ship of new hardware...and still got screwed around when it came to my hourly rate increased or getting my contract renewed... When my girlfriend's son passed away from complications with cancer, I had flowers and cards sent from some former coworkers, but, not a single person even reached out to me until a few months later, where they asked me if I was 'ready to go back to work' after cutting my contract. It was well known that if someone robbed a Sunglass hut, the most expensive item in the store to replace was the iPad...
- rolenthedeep 4y ago
  My fiance did store tech support, and holy SHIT I cannot believe that place manages to function day to day. There was some weird system that support staff had to RDP into, but the server was set to Spanish. Instead of, I dunno, fixing the language, all the support staff were given a document with translations of everything they need to use. There was another HR system that support staff again had to RDP into to change passwords or personnel details or something. But it was so horribly misconfigured that there was a delay of minutes between keypress on the staff's client and response from the server. This task routinely took half an hour to update a few text fields. Also yeah, they totally fucked him on hours and pay. The real big problem was the constant verbal harassment from store employees who are angry about systemic IT issues that have gone unresolved for years. One store has their internet drop out every single weekend. There's a ticket that's been open for years with hundreds of notes because the manager calls every weekend to report it.
wyclif 4y ago
Check out Shuron. USA-made and not owned by Luxottica. Superior quality zyl frames and five-barrel hinges, unlike almost everything Luxottica sells. And they are full service and have top-notch customer service—they'll fill your prescription and also send you five different frames to try on and return: https://shop.shuron.com/ https://shop.shuron.com/
- odysseus 4y ago
  I wanted to like these, but these are some ugly frames compared to some of Lux's Italian-made frames. Same deal with a lot of discount frames (including some from Luxottica) - very old styling and cheap looking materials. But to each his own - I'm sure some people will like Shuron and maybe I'm not up on the latest trends.
  - wyclif 4y ago
    It's true, Shurons are retro style frames. And some of them are...eccentric to say the least. But the zyl they use is pretty high quality compared to others. And the hinges...I haven't found a brand of frame with tougher hinges. My faves are either the Sidewinder or the Ronsir Zyl (the latter is the original "browline" style frame as worn by Malcolm X).
  - dotancohen 4y ago
    > very old styling Correction: Original styling. These were the guys who invented that styling. The problem is, they've hardly innovated styling at all for decades.
    - wyclif 4y ago
      Yes, Shuron invented the classic "browline" frame and that's why Shuron Ronsirs are what Hollywood used for frames in "JFK" and "Malcolm X". Pretty sure they also invented the "cat's eye" style frames for women, too.
- bombolo 4y ago
  italian made? lol… china made
wingworks 4y ago
It's a pretty long list of sub-brands. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EssilorLuxottica#Brands https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EssilorLuxottica#Brands
hourago 4y ago
Capitalism stops working when monopolies take over markets. It is urgently needed to break up all the monopolies and go back to healthy competition. Many problems that we see in society today come from power accumulation in a few hands. The economy is becoming an authoritarian power. Kill monopolies and growth will come back in full force. People is not out of ideas, it is just that companies do not care anymore because they have their market share assured.
- robertlagrant 4y ago
  > The economy is becoming an authoritarian power. Well, no. Monopolising a market with the economy, which is a tiny fraction of all decision-making power, is not authoritarian. The main thing to ask is: are there high barriers to entry for new players? If not, then competition will arise when it needs to. If there are, then we have a problem. If there are, and they're government/state regulations, then we have a common problem :)
  - timbit42 4y ago
    Competition can arise but then it's bought out by the monopoly.
    - robertlagrant 4y ago
      If it chooses to be. This is a voluntary arrangement. If the monopoly becomes destructive (e.g. it raises prices) then there will arise a competitor that sees they can make more money than the buyer can afford to pay by charging less and gaining a large chunk of the market.
- beeboop 4y ago
  > Capitalism stops working when monopolies take over markets. It is an inherit property of capitalism that it works towards this goal. There are forms of capitalism that exert more regulatory influence to help prevent this, but the way capitalism works is that it constantly tries to erode regulation and trend towards monopolies. We see this constantly and nonstop in real life.
tistoon 4y ago
Wow you just described Canada in every industry sectors! It’s the same. That’s why Canada is overpriced everywhere (telecom, banks, groceries, etc): no competition.
londons_explore 4y ago
They grew big by buying every startup eye brand. Anyone want to start a little low-cost, low-quality glasses manufacturing company, with the aim of being bought by Luxottica and closed down?
ohgodplsno 4y ago
Leica (makers of lenses for cameras and phones) is moving in the market. They have the knowledge and the tools to make it, but they are still very small compared to Luxottica.
- rich_sasha 4y ago
  While it's good news and fun for photography nerds, I don't associate Leica with price-based competition.
  - ohgodplsno 4y ago
    It's actually quite reasonably priced (for the market, which is still absurdly marked up). Mine ran me 95€ a piece, where the Luxottica equivalent would be over 200.
  - jwr 4y ago
    Yes, the prices aren't really competitive. You do get really good quality, though, especially with their "individual" lenses. Also, in the EU at least, Luxottica is less dominant. There are many smaller designers (like ic berlin for example). I don't see much price competition, though — it's all ridiculously expensive.
    - yywwbbn 4y ago
      EssilorLuxottica has a similar company has a comparable share in US and Europe (about 40%). I can only find figures for EMEA but I’d assume that it would have a higher share in richer European countries than in poorer ones. Which makes sense considering both companies are European.
ranguna 4y ago
Take a trip to an EU country and buy some glasses. Do your research beforehand though, not all stores are cheap either. Most of the cost is on the frame usually, so if you go with a cheap frame, there's a high chance the glasses will be cheap, unless your lenses have some crazy requirements that is. I got sunglasses and "normal" glasses for 100€ both, not each, both. And they do not use premade lenses. I still use the sunglasses to this day but I broke the normal glasses due to my own stupidity after 3 years or so. Then I decided to try a different store and payed 300€ just for normal glasses. I will never go there again, they are not any better then the ones I broke before but are waaay more expensive.
andirk 4y ago
Is there some way to make this comment a billboard? The lenses are manufactured per individual according to their need. Granted it's within a spectrum of choices such as it's -1.5 or -2, not -1.66421 (right?). Then one can add features to the lenses like anti-glare, anti-scratch, spectrum, blue light filter. Insurance covers 100%, and it's not a lot. But the frames?? They're very, very small amounts of metal and mass produced. What a sham. But yeah I do buy them at Lens Crafters after my optometrist appointment for the convenience.
- LorenPechtel 4y ago
  The steps are .25 on the diopters. I suspect I would have slightly better vision for a while if they went to .125 as there have been plenty of times I felt that her 1 and 2 were bracketing ideal. I don't know the resolution of the axis and cylinder numbers.
- someweirdperson 4y ago
  > Granted it's within a spectrum of choices such as it's -1.5 or -2, not -1.66421 (right?) Usually right, typically in 0.25 steps. Then there's Zeiss i.Scription [0], with lenses produced not only to weird numbers, but also to correct higher order deviations than just spherical and cylindrical. I haven't tried those yet, seeing slightly changing test results on the needed standard correction, so I assume that higher order correction would be a short term improvement only. [0] https://www.zeiss.com/vision-care/us/eyeglass-lenses-from-zeiss/i-scription.html https://www.zeiss.com/vision-care/us/eyeglass-lenses-from-ze...
- dotancohen 4y ago
  > anti-glare, anti-scratch, spectrum, blue light filter What does "spectrum" mean in this context? Thanks.
  - andirk 4y ago
    Sorry the word is "prism", not spectrum.
    - 4y ago
blacklion 4y ago
Is it US-specific thing? In my country most offered branded lenses are Hoya (Japanese optical glass manufacturer) and Zeiss (German one). And, of course, a lot of cheap no-name lenses. Does Luxottica owns Hoya and/or Zeiss brands? I don't think so. Frames are other story, of course, if you want Ray Ban you pay for (Luxottica-owned) Ray Ban. But, again, a lot of dirt-cheap non-name frames but, also, local-produced high-quality ones are available (cheaper than Ray Ban, much more expensive than no-name). I know, that Luxottica owns all brands which will be sold to you in Tax-free shop or in in-flight magazine, but still. For me there is one problem: Luxottica bought Oakley. Best technical sun shades ever. Now owned by Luxottica :-( About ordering on-line: good to you if you can wear random frame without pain in nose bridge and ears :-( I don't need prescription glasses, but I've spent a lot of time to buy shades for cycling - something, which seems Ok in shop is painful after 8 hours of wearing for me.
- yywwbbn 4y ago
  Luxottica is an Italian company, though. I’m not sure its presence is much stronger in US than in Europe. I think they focus more on the frames than on lenses. Essilor which merged with Luxottica is pretty big in Europe as well. And it’s also a French company
  - Fiahil 4y ago
    Yet, EL makes most of its revenue from North America. Europe-middle-east-africa is close behind : NA : 9,87 B EMEA : 7,95 B AP : 2,54 B LA : 1,13 B
dwighttk 4y ago
I mean https://zennioptical.com https://zennioptical.com https://www.eyebuydirect.com/ https://www.eyebuydirect.com/ I’ve gotten my last 8+ pairs at one of those two (may have been a third but can’t remember) the most I paid was for some sunglasses where I wanted a few upgrades $80… the rest averaged $12
- postalrat 4y ago
  I just ordered a pair from zenni using their "fastframe" service. Not so much because I needed a pair fast. Just because they at least they cut the lenses to fit the frame and assemble them in the USA.
- h3rsko 4y ago
  I use https://www.firmoo.com/ https://www.firmoo.com/ and have never had any issues.
- calaei 4y ago
  eyebuydirect.com is owned by Essilor, which is part of Luxottica. Despite that I still buy my glasses from them since its way cheaper than a retail store. https://www.eyebuydirect.com/terms-of-use https://www.eyebuydirect.com/terms-of-use "Thank you for visiting EyeBuyDirect.com! — an Essilor Group US Inc. website (the "Site")."
- timbit42 4y ago
  https://www.goggles4u.com/ https://www.goggles4u.com/
tzs 4y ago
> Glasses are expensive because there is no competition. One company - Luxottica - owns pretty much everything. When I first heard about their dominance I checked my frames, and the maybe 3 old ones I still had around. To my surprise none of them were Luxottica. My latest were Safilo. I don't remember what the other 3 were but I did look them up and they were not brands from Luxottica. I'm pretty sure some of the places I bought some of those from did carry Luxottica too, so I'm not sure how I ended up with something else. I am pretty picky about frames (not the appearance...as long as I don't look like I'm having a go at Elton John cosplay the appearance probably won't bother me--it's the feel and size as seen from my side that matters) and usually end up going through around 90% of the frames at a glasses store before finding some I like. I wonder now if it is just coincidence that I keep ending up with non-Luxottica frames or if there actually is some difference between their designs and the others that makes me just not like Luxottica even in a blind comparison?
JustSomeNobody 4y ago
True. But. Even before Luxottica started buying up the industry, glasses were expensive. I worked in the industry in the early 90s (paid for college). We could buy CR-39 bifocal blanks for about $3.50. A frame in the Frames catalog (name brand) was about $10. Tint and UV were about $4 a bottle and would last a week, and that would tint/UV hundreds of lenses. I was making $7.50 and hour and it would take me half an hour to make them in the lab. We'd sell that pair for about $250.
- dotancohen 4y ago
  The tint and UV coatings come in a bottle and can be applied? Can that be done at home?
  - JustSomeNobody 4y ago
    It was concentrated liquid that was mixed with water and heated. If you can get your hands on it, yeah, it can be done at home. Edit: We used BPI(?) dyes and UV. Make sure you don't have anything other than scratch coating. A/R, Mirror, etc. will likely craze in the heat.
    - dotancohen 4y ago
      Terrific, thank you.

nnoitra 4y ago

This comment slowly escalated to the point where I thought the next line would be: "They also own your eyes".

Eddy_Viscosity2 4y ago

It's almost as if monopolies are bad. I also thought they were illegal. Why hasn't Luxottica been broken up by antitrust laws?

planetsprite 4y ago

Why can't a new company simply undercut the competition? I don't imagine the barriers to entry are too high for manufacturing glasses, are they?

selcuka 4y ago
> Why can't a new company simply undercut the competition? They can and they do [1]. They just don't have the same marketing budget, so you don't hear as much about them. [1] https://www.zennioptical.com/ https://www.zennioptical.com/
- at_compile_time 4y ago
  I'll second this recommendation. I've had the same pair of $35 glasses for 5 years now, I wear them every day, and they're still good as new.
- adzm 4y ago
  Not to mention the pupillary distance is not commonly included on optical prescriptions which creates a significant hurdle, even though it can be measured yourself or usually given when asked.
  - hyperbovine 4y ago
    Zenni will send you a cool little cardboard ruler that sits on the bridge of your nose to measure PD. It suffices (I am wearing my Zenni frames as I write this). I hate hate hate EssilorLuxxotica.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
  - wrycoder 4y ago
    My ophthalmologist claimed he didn’t have the equipment to add PD to his prescription. Bald-faced liar. BTW, the app is called PD Measure.
    - epmaybe 4y ago
      Ophthalmologist or optometrist? Very different, and I think the difference needs to be overstated more and more.

bagels 4y ago

Yeah, it's interesting. People get outraged about tech monopolies... but something we spend hundreds of dollars each year on, that's just fine.

int_19h 4y ago
People get outraged about things that they know about. (Most) tech monopolies don't attempt to hide behind many different brands.
- BiteCode_dev 4y ago
  And yet, most people don't know google own Waze, Youtube, Gmail, Android, Chrome, Chromecast and so on. They also don't realize most sites use Google Analytics, meaning your activity on a site completely unrelated to google is still recorded. They don't realize that Meta own not just Facebook, but also Instagram, WhatsApp or Oculus. They also don't realize all sites that use "share with facebook" send date to facebook, meaning your activity on a site completely unrelated to FB is still recorded. We know that on HN, but ask somebody in the street, they barely know what a URL is, how would they understand a monopoly?
  - int_19h 4y ago
    Anecdotal, but the non-techies on my personal circle are, on average, more critical of Google and Facebook than techies are. And they understand that those are monopolies on a very visceral level - because it's so hard to escape from them as a casual user.

imroot 4y ago

I worked on the retail IT side of things at Luxottica. I don't even think that you've scratched the surface of just how prevalent Luxottica is: you've touched the retail side of things, but, you also haven't touched the manufacturing side of things (Lux has patents on the hinges used in glasses), the wholesaling side of things (Lux supplies generic and branded frames to your local optician on less-than-preferred terms), and then just the genetic beast that is their optimization efforts. I discovered some ineffective linux and db management that was adding 15-30 minutes of closing time every night -- time where we'd have employees on the clock waiting to close the store -- and figured out why it was behaving the way that it was and fixed it so the 'point of sales' part of closing wouldn't be the hold up. Saved the company almost 13 million dollars a year in labor costs and 45 million in licensing costs when I came up with a way to replace the POS systems OS without needing a cross-ship of new hardware...and still got screwed around when it came to my hourly rate increased or getting my contract renewed... When my girlfriend's son passed away from complications with cancer, I had flowers and cards sent from some former coworkers, but, not a single person even reached out to me until a few months later, where they asked me if I was 'ready to go back to work' after cutting my contract. It was well known that if someone robbed a Sunglass hut, the most expensive item in the store to replace was the iPad...

rolenthedeep 4y ago
My fiance did store tech support, and holy SHIT I cannot believe that place manages to function day to day. There was some weird system that support staff had to RDP into, but the server was set to Spanish. Instead of, I dunno, fixing the language, all the support staff were given a document with translations of everything they need to use. There was another HR system that support staff again had to RDP into to change passwords or personnel details or something. But it was so horribly misconfigured that there was a delay of minutes between keypress on the staff's client and response from the server. This task routinely took half an hour to update a few text fields. Also yeah, they totally fucked him on hours and pay. The real big problem was the constant verbal harassment from store employees who are angry about systemic IT issues that have gone unresolved for years. One store has their internet drop out every single weekend. There's a ticket that's been open for years with hundreds of notes because the manager calls every weekend to report it.

wyclif 4y ago

Check out Shuron. USA-made and not owned by Luxottica. Superior quality zyl frames and five-barrel hinges, unlike almost everything Luxottica sells. And they are full service and have top-notch customer service—they'll fill your prescription and also send you five different frames to try on and return: https://shop.shuron.com/ https://shop.shuron.com/

odysseus 4y ago
I wanted to like these, but these are some ugly frames compared to some of Lux's Italian-made frames. Same deal with a lot of discount frames (including some from Luxottica) - very old styling and cheap looking materials. But to each his own - I'm sure some people will like Shuron and maybe I'm not up on the latest trends.
- wyclif 4y ago
  It's true, Shurons are retro style frames. And some of them are...eccentric to say the least. But the zyl they use is pretty high quality compared to others. And the hinges...I haven't found a brand of frame with tougher hinges. My faves are either the Sidewinder or the Ronsir Zyl (the latter is the original "browline" style frame as worn by Malcolm X).
- dotancohen 4y ago
  > very old styling Correction: Original styling. These were the guys who invented that styling. The problem is, they've hardly innovated styling at all for decades.
  - wyclif 4y ago
    Yes, Shuron invented the classic "browline" frame and that's why Shuron Ronsirs are what Hollywood used for frames in "JFK" and "Malcolm X". Pretty sure they also invented the "cat's eye" style frames for women, too.
bombolo 4y ago
italian made? lol… china made

wingworks 4y ago

It's a pretty long list of sub-brands. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EssilorLuxottica#Brands https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EssilorLuxottica#Brands

hourago 4y ago

Capitalism stops working when monopolies take over markets. It is urgently needed to break up all the monopolies and go back to healthy competition. Many problems that we see in society today come from power accumulation in a few hands. The economy is becoming an authoritarian power. Kill monopolies and growth will come back in full force. People is not out of ideas, it is just that companies do not care anymore because they have their market share assured.

robertlagrant 4y ago
> The economy is becoming an authoritarian power. Well, no. Monopolising a market with the economy, which is a tiny fraction of all decision-making power, is not authoritarian. The main thing to ask is: are there high barriers to entry for new players? If not, then competition will arise when it needs to. If there are, then we have a problem. If there are, and they're government/state regulations, then we have a common problem :)
- timbit42 4y ago
  Competition can arise but then it's bought out by the monopoly.
  - robertlagrant 4y ago
    If it chooses to be. This is a voluntary arrangement. If the monopoly becomes destructive (e.g. it raises prices) then there will arise a competitor that sees they can make more money than the buyer can afford to pay by charging less and gaining a large chunk of the market.
beeboop 4y ago
> Capitalism stops working when monopolies take over markets. It is an inherit property of capitalism that it works towards this goal. There are forms of capitalism that exert more regulatory influence to help prevent this, but the way capitalism works is that it constantly tries to erode regulation and trend towards monopolies. We see this constantly and nonstop in real life.

tistoon 4y ago

Wow you just described Canada in every industry sectors! It’s the same. That’s why Canada is overpriced everywhere (telecom, banks, groceries, etc): no competition.

londons_explore 4y ago

They grew big by buying every startup eye brand. Anyone want to start a little low-cost, low-quality glasses manufacturing company, with the aim of being bought by Luxottica and closed down?

ohgodplsno 4y ago

Leica (makers of lenses for cameras and phones) is moving in the market. They have the knowledge and the tools to make it, but they are still very small compared to Luxottica.

rich_sasha 4y ago
While it's good news and fun for photography nerds, I don't associate Leica with price-based competition.
- ohgodplsno 4y ago
  It's actually quite reasonably priced (for the market, which is still absurdly marked up). Mine ran me 95€ a piece, where the Luxottica equivalent would be over 200.
- jwr 4y ago
  Yes, the prices aren't really competitive. You do get really good quality, though, especially with their "individual" lenses. Also, in the EU at least, Luxottica is less dominant. There are many smaller designers (like ic berlin for example). I don't see much price competition, though — it's all ridiculously expensive.
  - yywwbbn 4y ago
    EssilorLuxottica has a similar company has a comparable share in US and Europe (about 40%). I can only find figures for EMEA but I’d assume that it would have a higher share in richer European countries than in poorer ones. Which makes sense considering both companies are European.

ranguna 4y ago

Take a trip to an EU country and buy some glasses. Do your research beforehand though, not all stores are cheap either. Most of the cost is on the frame usually, so if you go with a cheap frame, there's a high chance the glasses will be cheap, unless your lenses have some crazy requirements that is. I got sunglasses and "normal" glasses for 100€ both, not each, both. And they do not use premade lenses. I still use the sunglasses to this day but I broke the normal glasses due to my own stupidity after 3 years or so. Then I decided to try a different store and payed 300€ just for normal glasses. I will never go there again, they are not any better then the ones I broke before but are waaay more expensive.

andirk 4y ago

Is there some way to make this comment a billboard? The lenses are manufactured per individual according to their need. Granted it's within a spectrum of choices such as it's -1.5 or -2, not -1.66421 (right?). Then one can add features to the lenses like anti-glare, anti-scratch, spectrum, blue light filter. Insurance covers 100%, and it's not a lot. But the frames?? They're very, very small amounts of metal and mass produced. What a sham. But yeah I do buy them at Lens Crafters after my optometrist appointment for the convenience.

LorenPechtel 4y ago
The steps are .25 on the diopters. I suspect I would have slightly better vision for a while if they went to .125 as there have been plenty of times I felt that her 1 and 2 were bracketing ideal. I don't know the resolution of the axis and cylinder numbers.
someweirdperson 4y ago
> Granted it's within a spectrum of choices such as it's -1.5 or -2, not -1.66421 (right?) Usually right, typically in 0.25 steps. Then there's Zeiss i.Scription [0], with lenses produced not only to weird numbers, but also to correct higher order deviations than just spherical and cylindrical. I haven't tried those yet, seeing slightly changing test results on the needed standard correction, so I assume that higher order correction would be a short term improvement only. [0] https://www.zeiss.com/vision-care/us/eyeglass-lenses-from-zeiss/i-scription.html https://www.zeiss.com/vision-care/us/eyeglass-lenses-from-ze...
dotancohen 4y ago
> anti-glare, anti-scratch, spectrum, blue light filter What does "spectrum" mean in this context? Thanks.
- andirk 4y ago
  Sorry the word is "prism", not spectrum.
  - 4y ago

blacklion 4y ago

Is it US-specific thing? In my country most offered branded lenses are Hoya (Japanese optical glass manufacturer) and Zeiss (German one). And, of course, a lot of cheap no-name lenses. Does Luxottica owns Hoya and/or Zeiss brands? I don't think so. Frames are other story, of course, if you want Ray Ban you pay for (Luxottica-owned) Ray Ban. But, again, a lot of dirt-cheap non-name frames but, also, local-produced high-quality ones are available (cheaper than Ray Ban, much more expensive than no-name). I know, that Luxottica owns all brands which will be sold to you in Tax-free shop or in in-flight magazine, but still. For me there is one problem: Luxottica bought Oakley. Best technical sun shades ever. Now owned by Luxottica :-( About ordering on-line: good to you if you can wear random frame without pain in nose bridge and ears :-( I don't need prescription glasses, but I've spent a lot of time to buy shades for cycling - something, which seems Ok in shop is painful after 8 hours of wearing for me.

yywwbbn 4y ago
Luxottica is an Italian company, though. I’m not sure its presence is much stronger in US than in Europe. I think they focus more on the frames than on lenses. Essilor which merged with Luxottica is pretty big in Europe as well. And it’s also a French company
- Fiahil 4y ago
  Yet, EL makes most of its revenue from North America. Europe-middle-east-africa is close behind : NA : 9,87 B EMEA : 7,95 B AP : 2,54 B LA : 1,13 B

dwighttk 4y ago

I mean https://zennioptical.com https://zennioptical.com https://www.eyebuydirect.com/ https://www.eyebuydirect.com/ I’ve gotten my last 8+ pairs at one of those two (may have been a third but can’t remember) the most I paid was for some sunglasses where I wanted a few upgrades $80… the rest averaged $12

postalrat 4y ago
I just ordered a pair from zenni using their "fastframe" service. Not so much because I needed a pair fast. Just because they at least they cut the lenses to fit the frame and assemble them in the USA.
h3rsko 4y ago
I use https://www.firmoo.com/ https://www.firmoo.com/ and have never had any issues.
calaei 4y ago
eyebuydirect.com is owned by Essilor, which is part of Luxottica. Despite that I still buy my glasses from them since its way cheaper than a retail store. https://www.eyebuydirect.com/terms-of-use https://www.eyebuydirect.com/terms-of-use "Thank you for visiting EyeBuyDirect.com! — an Essilor Group US Inc. website (the "Site")."
timbit42 4y ago
https://www.goggles4u.com/ https://www.goggles4u.com/

tzs 4y ago

> Glasses are expensive because there is no competition. One company - Luxottica - owns pretty much everything. When I first heard about their dominance I checked my frames, and the maybe 3 old ones I still had around. To my surprise none of them were Luxottica. My latest were Safilo. I don't remember what the other 3 were but I did look them up and they were not brands from Luxottica. I'm pretty sure some of the places I bought some of those from did carry Luxottica too, so I'm not sure how I ended up with something else. I am pretty picky about frames (not the appearance...as long as I don't look like I'm having a go at Elton John cosplay the appearance probably won't bother me--it's the feel and size as seen from my side that matters) and usually end up going through around 90% of the frames at a glasses store before finding some I like. I wonder now if it is just coincidence that I keep ending up with non-Luxottica frames or if there actually is some difference between their designs and the others that makes me just not like Luxottica even in a blind comparison?

JustSomeNobody 4y ago

True. But. Even before Luxottica started buying up the industry, glasses were expensive. I worked in the industry in the early 90s (paid for college). We could buy CR-39 bifocal blanks for about $3.50. A frame in the Frames catalog (name brand) was about $10. Tint and UV were about $4 a bottle and would last a week, and that would tint/UV hundreds of lenses. I was making $7.50 and hour and it would take me half an hour to make them in the lab. We'd sell that pair for about $250.

dotancohen 4y ago
The tint and UV coatings come in a bottle and can be applied? Can that be done at home?
- JustSomeNobody 4y ago
  It was concentrated liquid that was mixed with water and heated. If you can get your hands on it, yeah, it can be done at home. Edit: We used BPI(?) dyes and UV. Make sure you don't have anything other than scratch coating. A/R, Mirror, etc. will likely craze in the heat.
  - dotancohen 4y ago
    Terrific, thank you.