Sunglasses NOT owned by Luxottica

[kiya]

The issue with Bright Futures is that the product is all too sportswear looking, nothing classic or vintage.
The issue with Sutro is that the collection is fully out of touch, it's very 2005, hence the type of musicians they have sponsoring the brand.
I'm really into finding brands which are both modern but stick to classic styles with very good quality of materials.
Tetsuya Okada, this guy.. he kills it. Not only has he been in the industry for 25 years, his vision is unreal when it comes to eyewear. Granted i do business with him, but i've found it hard to find anybody better in the past 10 years. I'm always looking for a better or more enlightened product, yet in some segments it's hard to get past the top quality mass market items.

I would love to start a thread here where we can discuss eyewear not produced by a large brand, there are so many talented designers but they're overshadowed by the big money which is the big three of eyewear.

 

[Joe Mc]

I can't speak for E but I imagine like myself they have an issue with monopolistic corporations that buy up what had once been flagship brands and turn them into over priced junk.

 

[XFactor]

Request:
Affordable and value for money - Photo Chromic + Polarized ones? I saw Serengeti - Nice a but high $$ Something for lesser but good quality/ value. ???

 

[zunkido]

Maui Jim used to be a part of Luxottica but left them in 2009.

I believe Maui Jim has the best optics and clarity of any Sun glasses I've tried. They're also keep getting lighter (and more fragile). I tend to get a headache with heavy sunglasses.

I own around 10 pairs of Maui Jim, because I buy a new pair every year, for the last 10 years. Their customer service is bar the best in the world.

They replaced my lenses for free when they were showing some discoloration.

 

[kaomte]

I've been looking for a thread like this for ages! I created an account just so I could post here.

I'm wondering what you guys think of chilli beans sunglasses? How are they quality wise ? Are try worth the price? I'm seeing prices between 50 and 100 usd. Some of the styles are attractive!

 

[bamgrinus]

Does anyone know if 999.9 has any online stockists that'll ship to the US?

 

[Tinkertrain]

Serengeti is suppose to be good quality.

 

[DanielBA]

From Germany:

Mykita
Reiz

From USA
Randolph Engineering

 

[LucasFilms]

Do Americans hate EssilorLuxottica just because it is a great European company?

I even found videos criticizing the merger etc... ridiculous...

 

[Trit]

Do Americans hate EssilorLuxottica just because it is a great European company?

I even found videos criticizing the merger etc... ridiculous...

Normally, yeah, it's always good to criticize group think in fashion. But Luxottica quality is actually truly really bad. What they've done with Ray-Ban is about as cynical as it gets. The last 3 pairs of new Ray-Bans I handled were without exaggeration dollar store quality. Like confusingly bad. Even if someone is trying to say Luxottica is willing to sink the wholly owned Ray-Ban brand to lift up their more expensive brands by comparison it still doesn't work because they also sunk their mid-tier brands. I bought a new pair of Persols recently and they were the same needlessly low quality. If they hadn't come directly from the Persol website you would have assumed they were fake. Though to be fair, the Tom Fords I got recently were fine.

And to be clear, I've never been blown away by any glasses. It's not a great piece of fashion to obsess over quality because if you load it up with the finest materials it just gets too heavy and destroys your nose. Plus if you step on the worlds finest pair of glasses they'll still break. Quality in this field just can't guarantee comfort and lifespan. That said, Luxottica quality right now is below what online discount retailers are offering for 10% of the price so it's fair to want to avoid them.

EDIT: I actually have them with me. I returned the Persols but the top 3 are the Ray-Bans. They actually get noticeably worse with regards to when they were purchased so quality is falling quite quickly. Forth is the Matsudas that I like and wear everyday and fifth is the Tom Fords that look great and feel good but are too heavy and wreck my nose. Not that weight is everything but I threw them on the scale and they are, from left to right: 19g, 21g, 29g, 32g, 39g. So I guess around 30g is the sweet spot for me. And each pair of Ray-Bans got lighter the more recently I bought them. Anyway, anecdotal but there you go.

 

[LucasFilms]

Normally, yeah, it's always good to criticize group think in fashion. But Luxottica quality is actually truly really bad. What they've done with Ray-Ban is about as cynical as it gets. The last 3 pairs of new Ray-Bans I handled were without exaggeration dollar store quality. Like confusingly bad. Even if someone is trying to say Luxottica is willing to sink the wholly owned Ray-Ban brand to lift up their more expensive brands by comparison it still doesn't work because they also sunk their mid-tier brands. I bought a new pair of Persols recently and they were the same needlessly low quality. If they hadn't come directly from the Persol website you would have assumed they were fake. Though to be fair, the Tom Fords I got recently were fine.

I agree with you. All brands owned by Luxottica have plunged in quality. Even Oliver Peoples is decreasing in quality, although I think there are still some models that are ok.

As for Tom Ford, I have bought 3 TF sunglasses and 1 TF eyeglass in the last 2 years and quality, I think, is pretty bad... but the fit is ok. A remarkable thing about all the TF glasses I bought (4!!) is arms were not properly aligned (and these were new glasses!) and the optician said "oh, well, that happens a lot.. we will align them when we fit your prescription).

Both Ray Bans and TF feel like plastic really.. very low quality. And as I said the only thing that saves them if the fit, the fact they have so many models, sizes etc to fit anyone's face.

There are expensive brands like JMM that have decent quality but fit poorly and those are heavy glasses too, very uncomfortable to wear.

Luxottica has probably understood that glasses are almost disposable nowadays and very few people keep them for years. Many people just use them one season and then throw them away, so price and how the glasses fit are very important.

 

[Junglejack]

Maui Jim used to be a part of Luxottica but left them in 2009.

I believe Maui Jim has the best optics and clarity of any Sun glasses I've tried. They're also keep getting lighter (and more fragile). I tend to get a headache with heavy sunglasses.

I own around 10 pairs of Maui Jim, because I buy a new pair every year, for the last 10 years. Their customer service is bar the best in the world.

They replaced my lenses for free when they were showing some discoloration.

Maui Jim’s are all I wear these days. Mostly as while my correction is pretty basic, I just cannot do the contact thang and MJ makes prescription lenses with all the tech they use on the standard line.

Maui along with Costa Del Mar have always seemed to just kill it when it comes to lens quality and while perhaps the most stylish frames, I have always found something I can live with.

For eyeglasses, have owned most of the usual suspects, but changed to Lindberg around 10 years ago and have not looked back. That said, they have been sold recently so not sure what if anything was changed by that. Don’t think it was Luxottica, but not sure.

 

[SpicyUnagi]

I am having trouble finding options in round eyeglasses, or rectangular sunglasses, in 55/56-17/18-148/150 measurements, all acetate or titanium or combo.

I have not been able to find any rounds, but Masunaga has rectangle frames that look great, which I have ordered. I want to find a set of rounds that fit, but nothing I've tried on from a large set of the independent list from earlier, has ever been big enough.

Sunglasses, I have only found Barton Perreira Kuhio or the Domino 55s fit well enough. Latest optical shop I went to specializes in only independent brands, but this is all they had, having about 15 of those brands in their store.

I fall into the XXL category for frames, which is making it difficult.

There is a source for JMM here in Wisconsin, but when I went through the catalog, I found nothing large enough, in either case on the website.

Any suggestions?

 

[Junglejack]

I would check out Lindberg. They have a pretty wide selection of series and the build quality is excellent. They are sold at most high end indy retailers.

 

[LucasFilms]

I would check out Lindberg. They have a pretty wide selection of series and the build quality is excellent. They are sold at most high end indy retailers.

I like Lindberg frames, but the price tag is way higher than for Silhouette. My feeling is the price-quality ratio is better for the Silhouette line combining SPX on the front of the frame and Titanium on the arms.

We are talking (in Spain) of 220 euros for the Silhouette Frame vs at least 450 euros for the Lindberg... and fitting lenses is also cheaper on a SPX frame than on a "slotted" (translation?) Mykita or Lindberg frame...

I do not really see the point of making it harder to insert lenses on a frame, like it happens with Mykita or some Lindberg models.