Luxottica is the largest sunglasses conglomerate in the world, selling nearly one billion (1,000,000,000) pairs of sunglasses annually.
Brands Controlled By Luxottica
But what you may not know, is that Luxottica does not only sell its own name brands, but rather, nearly 80 brands are actually controlled by the monopoly.
Luxotttica's best known brands are Ray-Ban, Persol, Oakley, Prada, Giorgio Armani, Burberry, Chanel, Coach, DKNY, Michael Kors, Miu Miu, Polo Ralph Lauren, Tiffany, Tory Burch, Valentino, Versave, and Vogue.
Retail Stores Controlled By Luxottica
Not only are the brands licensed or controlled by Luxottica, but so are well known retail stores. For example, both Lenscrafters and Sunglass Hut are actually subsidiaries (100% owned) by Luxottica. Luxottica also controls Pearl Vision, Sears Optical, and Oliver Peoples.
Online Glasses Sites & Stores
In addition to its brands and retail chains, Luxottica owns a variety of websites, including FramesDirect.com, E-Lens.com, EyeBuyDirect.com, Coastal.com, Clearly.com, GLasses.com, and LensWay.com.
New Market Entrants
Although Luxottica controls the market, there have been some innovative market entrants in recent years, such as Blenders Eyewear, the surfing sunglasses brand acquired by Safilo, and Warby Parker who came out with the try-on-at-home model, as well as of course Peeq, which invented the world's first reversible two-pairs-in-one sunglasses.
For additional informationm, we recommend this Forbes article by Ana Swanson: https://www.forbes.com/sites/anaswanson/2014/09/10/meet-the-four-eyed-eight-tentacled-monopoly-that-is-making-your-glasses-so-expensive/
