Your $400 Ray−Bans cost less than $15 to manufacture.
The markup is over 1,000%.
Not because lenses are complex. Not because frames are expensive. Because one company owns the entire pipeline from factory to your face.
EssilorLuxottica.
They own the brands. Ray-Ban. Oakley. Persol. Oliver Peoples. They manufacture for Chanel, Prada, Armani, Versace.
They own the stores. LensCrafters. Sunglass Hut. Pearle Vision. Target Optical.
They own EyeMed — one of the largest vision insurance networks in the country. 65 million members.
The same company that makes your glasses, sells your glasses, prices your glasses, and processes your insurance claim for your glasses.
4.2 billion people are using corrective lenses. Over half the planet. And one company controls the entire value chain for the most common medical device in human history.
€25.3 billion in revenue. 190,000 employees. 150 countries. Market cap over €100 billion.
This isn't a glasses company. It's a toll booth on human eyesight.
And nobody talks about it.
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