Everything Eyewear

Is buying frames on ebay a legit thing? I'm looking at a pair of Persols that I love, but the difference between retail at my local place and what I'm seeing on the bay is staggering.

These, for reference.

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Suprema PO3052V-24 or 108. Retailing like $250 and on the bay for $100ish
 
That's because Persols are cheap shits made by unluxoticca and aren't worth $50.
 
What makes any pair of glasses worth more than the plastic/metal used to build the frames? I would suspect not much
 
Buy a pair of Barton Perreira made in Japan and you'll easily tell the difference in craft quality compared to any luxoticca-mart unsunglasses.

I'm still waiting for the right shape and color by Rigards to get a real all buffalo horn frame.
 
LelandJ said:
Problem is almost all regular prescription frames are smaller sized than sunglasses so they shield out less of the sun, impractical.
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I have no idea exactly what you're looking for. Mine are Randolph Engineering aviators, but given your penchant for slight more retro stuff, how about a P-3 frame?
Zé Ferreira said:
What makes any pair of glasses worth more than the plastic/metal used to build the frames? I would suspect not much
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There are better grades of plastic, better hinges (this is huge for me) and also the level of finishing. The real boutique ones are much more jewel-like. But my regular pair was store-brand at a fancy optician, handmade in Japan, and I think they were $120. I suspect that still had a healthy profit in it.
 
Russell Street said:
I have no idea exactly what you're looking for. Mine are Randolph Engineering aviators, but given your penchant for slight more retro stuff, how about a P-3 frame?

There are better grades of plastic, better hinges (this is huge for me) and also the level of finishing. The real boutique ones are much more jewel-like. But my regular pair was store-brand at a fancy optician, handmade in Japan, and I think they were $120. I suspect that still had a healthy profit in it.
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Material wise luxoticca's are probably $3, while the Japanese quality stuff is maybe $30, just pulling a number out of my ass.
 
LelandJ said:
Material wise luxoticca's are probably $3, while the Japanese quality stuff is maybe $30, just pulling a number out of my ass.
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There's a lot of money in glasses.

A few years back, my wife interpreted in a legal matter involving a Japanese billionaire. He made his fortune by setting up a company which made glasses and sunglasses frames in South Korea and then sold them through a chain of stores in Japan.

Naturally, for confidentiality reasons, my wife couldn't tell me the finer details of the arrangements but suffice to say that, even for cheaper frames, the mark-ups were colossal and it was easy to see why he was a billionaire.
 
So you're saying I should expect the Persols on ebay for $100 vs the $250 ones at retail to be real and not further knockoffs?
 
Luxottica owns about 90% of the brands of eyewear around. They are almost all made in the same factories in China of the same materials and many at the same benches by the same people in different shifts. The majority of them are a few bits of plastic and a few screws. The mark ups on frames would make your eyes water - up to 1000%
 
You mean 10k % from production cost to retail price and often as high as 15k % assuming $3.
 
I think they employ a godless italian tacky to stand at the Chinese factory gate and say "Ciao Baby" to each truckload of frames as it goes out the gate - under italian law that is enough to have Made In Italy stamped on the frame.

The other trick - which saves costs on the guy at the gate is to stamp - "Designed in Italy"
 
LelandJ said:
Material wise luxoticca's are probably $3, while the Japanese quality stuff is maybe $30, just pulling a number out of my ass.
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I'd be willing to believe that good German stainless steel hinges are a couple bucks a pop. Premium acetate sheets aren't dirt cheap. Actually, there is some material that was better than zyl... wish I could remember what it was called.
Anyway, for pure manufacture, these numbers are probably right. Limited production means more design and set-up costs yaddda yadda.
 
Ha, like all real frame manufacturers, they offer different sizes. Actually, I think Suxoticca does sizes, but good luck having the crummy franchise optical shop stocking them. Anyway, a quick googling shows these at the reasonable <$200 mark
KALA 903-905-907
 
fxh said:
Can I put in a shill for Vick at the optometrist attic - great service even to over here.
Optometrist Attic: Vintage Eyeglasses, Antique Eyeglass Frames
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I've bought from him and his service is superb. The rivet shield was a different shape on the size that I wanted and he sent photos and all asking if this was okay. For a frame that was ~$34. The site also has superb detail photos and different angles, unlike most chintzy online vendors.

So this AceK guy who is trying to do horn frames just gto banned from AAAC for unpaid advertising. He's still at SF I see.
Affordable Horn Rimmed Eyewear - Page 3
 
Really like this one:

LL

LL


Real horn frames are near impossible to find so hope we can find out where to buy these.
 
Have you guys shat on Warby Parker yet?

No? Good. My Prada frames that I bought in 2005 were deformed from when I fell asleep on them the other day. They're actually still easily fixable and stylistically relevant, which tells me I actually did actually make at least 1 good choice when I was graduating high school.

I don't know how people buy glasses without trying them on first--especially prescriptions which you cannot return. I went to the small store on Newbury street (think Boston's 5th Ave), and ended up ordering the model which I initially liked the most online, and also because the cute Asian salesgirl said it looked the best on me.

The Crane:

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I only wear glasses towards the end of the day when my eyes are tired from my contacts, or when I have overnight work shifts, so I opted for the unorthodox mallard green option. Probably would have went with something more neutral (black, brown) if they were daily drivers.

I think the quality is decent, but at the price of 100$ shipped, I'm not going to be too picky. And they supposedly donate a pair to some needy soul somewhere, so I can tell myself that I'm a good person for participating in American consumerism.
 
Darkside said:
don't know how people buy glasses without trying them on first
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First, I avoid WP because they are Chinese made. But this is the next reason, although I could go to Manhattan and try them on. Actually, the Criss Optical Yanks on my head now were blindly ordered, but they are from the days when blandly flatteriing universal shapes were carefully thought out.
I'm off to see if Warby-Parker still sells the monocle.
Yes they do!
 
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I don't either. They just call it that because it sounds sophisticated and arcane (my new favorite word I've seen used twice on SF in the past week).

It's a dark olive green in person which could easily be mistaken for a brown. When they come in, I'll try and post real-life photos so you guys can use your expertise in fine eyewear to evaluate them via my poor photography.
 
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