As an Optician, it's part of my job to stay-up-to-date on the latest articles, and TV specials, and other news topics related to eyewear. Most of the time, I can agree on the articles and topic discussions, but I was really disappointed by the misinformation '60 Minutes' provided regarding eyewear. Not only did it make false claims towards us opticians but it also mislead the general public.
To summarize this televised broadcast, '60 Minutes' reported that eyewear is made by one company and one company only. This is not true! The company that was mentioned; Luxottica, is not the only eyewear company. This company does in fact own several smaller branches of other companies for example, Ray-Ban, and Oakley. However, there are several other major companies that own other frame companies as well. For instances, Silhouette; a company located in Austria, is known for their full rimless frames and they also own Adidas. Safilo is another big company, Safilo manufactures; Kate Spade, Banana Republic and Juicy.
The list goes on.....
To say that there's only one company is ridiculous! It tells the general public that no matter what they buy or where they buy it, their money ends up going to one company. They also made false claims on Opticians. Lux. does own optical chain stores; Pearl Vision and Lenscrafters. But, they are not the only optical stores in the industry. The optical industry consists of other mega chain stores and also small independent businesses (such as myself that aren't owned by big companies). I am not trashing Luxottica, Lux. is a great company and we carry a lot of their products, but we also carry other frames from other companies as well!
What they did during this broadcast, is similar to if I went on national TV and told the public that Toyota, respectively, is a car company that manufactures every car in the world. Sure, Toyota makes their line of cars and own other small car companies, but they don't control the market. Other car companies exist in other countries!
Another thing that was discussed on this '60 Minute' episode was the price it costs to make everything. For starters, that shouldn't be discussed in the first place mainly because it's no ones business. I don't walk into a shoe stores and say those shoes cost about $2.00 make so there is not way I am paying over $100 for a pair of running shoes. Just for any business in general. It costs manufactures a certain price to make a particular item, and then they sell these products to retailers and the retailers pay a wholesale price and then these retailers have to make money to sell it to the general public. The reason products can cost so little and then cost so much more at the retailers is to pay for everything that went into it; from the manufactures to the consumer:
- Research and Design; Materials & Lens Add-On Technology
- Marketing/Advertising
- Salaries (Everyone Needs to Make Money)
- Machinery
The machinery that we use to cut the lenses itself can cost anywhere between $20,000 to $60,000. The machinery that is used in the making of the lenses and frames are multi-million dollar machinery)
So, next time you buy a pair of eyewear, be aware that the price is what it is because of all the steps that were required for the product to end up on the face of the consumer.
The list goes on.....
To say that there's only one company is ridiculous! It tells the general public that no matter what they buy or where they buy it, their money ends up going to one company. They also made false claims on Opticians. Lux. does own optical chain stores; Pearl Vision and Lenscrafters. But, they are not the only optical stores in the industry. The optical industry consists of other mega chain stores and also small independent businesses (such as myself that aren't owned by big companies). I am not trashing Luxottica, Lux. is a great company and we carry a lot of their products, but we also carry other frames from other companies as well!
What they did during this broadcast, is similar to if I went on national TV and told the public that Toyota, respectively, is a car company that manufactures every car in the world. Sure, Toyota makes their line of cars and own other small car companies, but they don't control the market. Other car companies exist in other countries!
Another thing that was discussed on this '60 Minute' episode was the price it costs to make everything. For starters, that shouldn't be discussed in the first place mainly because it's no ones business. I don't walk into a shoe stores and say those shoes cost about $2.00 make so there is not way I am paying over $100 for a pair of running shoes. Just for any business in general. It costs manufactures a certain price to make a particular item, and then they sell these products to retailers and the retailers pay a wholesale price and then these retailers have to make money to sell it to the general public. The reason products can cost so little and then cost so much more at the retailers is to pay for everything that went into it; from the manufactures to the consumer:
- Research and Design; Materials & Lens Add-On Technology
- Marketing/Advertising
- Salaries (Everyone Needs to Make Money)
- Machinery
The machinery that we use to cut the lenses itself can cost anywhere between $20,000 to $60,000. The machinery that is used in the making of the lenses and frames are multi-million dollar machinery)
So, next time you buy a pair of eyewear, be aware that the price is what it is because of all the steps that were required for the product to end up on the face of the consumer.
