Do you stock Ray-Ban?

This is a question that we hear in Ocean Optometry a couple of times a week and the simple answer is "No".

Of course, there is a great more detail to the answer than just those two letters and perhaps it would be best to give the complicated answer, rather than just the simple answer.

It is undoubtable that Ray-Ban is a popular eyewear brand, just as D&G, Prada, Versace and others have become.  Compared to some other fashion brands, likes those others mentioned, Ray-Ban is slightly different in that it has a heritage in eyewear and ophthalmic optics.  It has long been associated with fashion since its launch in 1939 and Ray-Ban classics like the Wayfarer, the Clubmaster and the Aviator have been popular with celebrities of music and screen throughout the decades.  It would be difficult to imagine the Blues Brothers poster without the classic sunglasses in it!

Ray-Ban was sold by its founding company, Bausch & Lomb, to the Italian Luxottica Group in 1999 and the brand has since been successfully re-launched and expanded to include ophthalmic frames as well as sunglass frames.  The success of having the power of the huge parent company behind them has been undoubtable and if you simply look around at any current eyeglass wearers you are sure to see a good number of them will have the Ray-Ban italicised logo on the side of their frames.

So being a trendy and stylish office you may think that we would be excited to have a hugely popular and current brand amongst the frames that we stock, not to mention that it would be a commercially obvious choice, but we are not.

If you go into virtually any eyewear office you can choose from a selection of Ray-Ban glasses, surf to many websites and the choice seems to be endless.  To our eyes, Ray-Ban has become somewhat generic and perhaps lacking in any sense of style, fashion or individualism.

So, if we get asked the question "Do you stock Ray-Bans?" our reply is, "Did you have a particular shape or style of frame in mind?".  More often than not, when someone is looking for Ray-Bans they have a particular image in their mind of a style of frame or a particular look.  Taking some time to find out what is the perfect solution for any individual is the only sure-fire way to achieve this and produce a beautiful pair of glasses that surpass the original desire of the Ray-ban seeker; surpass it with a sense of style, flair, elegance and most importantly individualism.

Be yourself, not a brand.