I’m writing this column on my mobile phone at the back of a ferry as I leave Greece. It’s been a good holiday but one during which I’ve spent far too much of my time on my mobile phone and here I am secretly working, again. But it’s OK, Mrs D is asleep so I’m unlikely to get in trouble.
I’ve been extremely busy these past few weeks, on your behalf, inspecting sunglass trends so I could report back in this column. Having been staring at everyone walking past me in ways that might have been disconcerting for some people, I am now a fully loaded information gun.
I can tell you how shapes and colours migrate around continents and how sunglasses us humans are buying and wearing is changing. All this wonderful data will help me design my new collections and, perhaps, even help you with your buying decisions. At least, that was my idea.
I was sitting on this same ferry two weeks ago, on the way out to the islands, marvelling at all the colour I was seeing in the sunglasses. ‘Wow,’ I thought, ‘this is a new trend in sunglasses.’ Colour. Lots of colour. But then I noticed that a lot of the sunglasses were really cheap. Non-brand, the sort of thing you buy from a guy walking around the beach with a rack of 100 frames for €5 each. Two of the frames people were wearing only had one arm. ‘Ah ha,’ I thought again, ‘a new trend?’ Does the cost-of-living crisis mean no one is investing in good sunglasses this season?
But reality soon crept over me and I spotted the real trend. As my holiday wore on, the fact was that one brand kept popping up; Ray-Ban.
Seriously, during this holiday, the world’s number one eyewear line took up around 10% of all sunglasses I saw. That might not sound like a big number but it’s really amazing. I didn’t come up with 10% lightly either. I counted people on planes, airports, boats on buses, beaches and in shopping centres. Around one in 10 people were wearing the Italian superbrand. Why do people love Ray-Ban so much? How did this brand become the world’s number one eyewear line? Well, I asked Google and got a very impressive press release back. There are five pages of history published on the Luxottica website, which is worth anyone in optics reading to be honest. It’s really the most amazing success story.
Here’s a quote from the story: ‘From James Dean to Audrey Hepburn to Michael Jackson, Ray-Ban has proven indispensable for cultural icons who don’t want to be seen but definitely want to be noticed. Ray-Ban has left an indelible mark on culture history.’
I was chatting to my kids about this. ‘Are you jealous, Dad?’ I was asked. ‘Of course I am,’ I told them. I suspect the recently departed Leonardo Del Vecchio was proud as could be. I realise that he bought the brand off Bausch+Lomb but it was Luxottica, and specifically Del Vecchio, who grew the brand into the world’s largest frame line. I’d have loved to have met him and always thought I would one day. Shame. I’d have told him that people always walk into my shops asking ‘have you got Ray-Ban?’ and how much it annoyed me.
Unlike some of the other eyewear designers I know, I don’t begrudge Ray-Ban’s success, I stand in awe of its 70 years of growth. So, as I type this into my phone, I can see four people around me smoking (lots of people still do that in Greece) and wearing some really nice Ray-Bans. So, in 50 years time, when the Tom Davies brand is 70, there will be 10 billion people in the world. Hmm, I wonder if we can make one billion frames a year in our factory in West London?
Time to get back to work. I’m not going to make history sitting on a ferry on holiday.