Echoes of the past: The state of the US sunglasses market

Optician’s monthly sister publication from the 1960s, Manufacturing Optician, is the subject of this week’s Echoes of the Past retrospective. The July issue from 1964 covered a range of topics from reports on the state of the US sunglass market to one from the European Committee for Optical and Precision Engineering conference.

Around the time the issue was published, US President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act & Voting Rights Act into law and the Beatles’ film Hard Day’s Night premiered in London.

The American Optical Company (AO) was once one of the biggest optical goods manufacturers in the world. A two-page report on its financial results for 1963 drilled down into the operations of the company – which was then 132 years old.