Eyewear is a term used to refer to all devices worn over both of a person'seyes, or occasionally a single eye (therefore known as amonocle), for one or more of a variety of purposes. Though historically used for vision improvement and correction, eyewear has also evolved into eye protection, for fashion and aesthetic purposes, and starting in the late 20th century, computers and virtual reality.

The primary intention of wearing eyewear can vary based on the need or desire of the wearer. Eyewear comes in different forms, such as glasses, contact lenses, sunglasses and many more. Eyewear (such as glasses and contact lenses) helps most people see clearer or read. Eyewear also can be used for protection, such assunglasses which protect wearers from the Sun'sultraviolet rays which are damaging to the eyes when unprotected,eyepatches to protect injured eyes from further damage, orgoggles which protect the wearer's eyes from debris, water and other chemicals. Variants of eyewear can conversely inhibit or disable vision for its bearers, such asblindfolds andview-limiting device for humans,blinkers for horses, orblinders for birds, especiallypoultry. Eyewear also exists for other specialized or niche purposes, such asactive shutter 3D systems andanaglyph 3D glasses forstereoscopy, andnight-vision goggles for low-light environments.

The eyewear industry is estimated to be valued at US$100 billion as of May 2018. Much of the eyewear industry's prominence and use in fashion occurred in Western cultures during the 1950s, with individual designers and celebrities at the time wearing them in public and increasing the popularity of eyewear, especially sunglasses.^[1] The growth of the industry through the latter half of the 20th century is credited toLuxottica, generally credited with acquiring brands popular with Western culture such asRay-Ban,Persol, and laterOakley, raising their prices and increasing the perceived status of eyewear in society.^[2][3] The 2010s and early 2020s saw a slowly-more technical focus towards the utility of eyewear, with early experiments such asGoogle Glass,Microsoft HoloLens and laterApple Vision Pro bringing augmented reality to eyewear;virtual reality headsets also began a growth in popularity in the 2010s.^[4][5][6][7]

Quartz was among the earliest used materials forreading stones, the precursors to wearable optics; quartz also became the foundation for glasses, the first major form of eyewear. The first incarnations of glasses were made with the aim of providing aid to reading.^[8]

Though innovations in pre-modern eyewear technology occurred in bothImperial China and theInuit territories, which both invented early forms of sunglasses and goggles,^[9]Venice andNorthern Italy have historically been the place of consolidation for eyewear innovation in the Western world. Upon the release of the printing press and the mass adoption of literature, larger sectors of the population began to buy into eyewear to assist with reading. Eyewear frames around this time were mainly made of animal bones, horns and fabric; the implementation of wire frames in the 16th century further allowed glasses to be mass-produced. The 16th century also saw the earliest ancestors ofpince-nez eyewear, which secured itself to the wearer through "pinching" the nose and later would become popular in the 18th and 19th centuries.^[10][11]

The first half of the 18th century saw British opticianEdward Scarlett perfect temple eyeglasses which would rest on the nose and the ears. The innovations presented by Scarlett would not only spark some to look at aesthetic customization of eyewear for fashion within Europe but also leadBenjamin Franklin to inventbifocals incolonial America.^[12] Later in the middle of the century, Britain also saw its first popularized wave of sunglasses asJames Ayscough created and sold blue and green tinted sunglasses for general vision improvement.^[9]

Virtual reality slowly became a more prominent technology stating in the 1990s after refinement of 1950s prototypes pushed byNASA and other technology companies.Sega was among the first companies to introduce head-mounted virtual reality headsets for theme park rides atJoypolis locations.^[13] The first major jump in virtual reality, however, was with theOculus Rift, later evolving into theQuest line made byFacebook-ownerMeta Platforms.^[14][15] The success of the Rift later incentivized other tech companies likeSony (through itsPlayStation brand) andHTC to release their own competitors to Oculus; Microsoft, Google, and Apple also all released or announced products throughout the 2010s and early 2020s in the eyewear technology industry incorporatingmixed reality.^[16][5][17]

Despite earlier developments, eyewear began its surge in popularity in 1929.Foster Grant, which first went into business this year, was among the earliest large retailers for eyeglasses in the United States, setting up shop on theAtlantic City Boardwalk in New Jersey. TheUnited States Army Air Corps was among the first large clients for sunglasses when it worked withBausch + Lomb to create sunglasses which protected its pilots from glare. These sunglasses later evolved intoaviator sunglasses, and the resulting name and brand,Ray-Ban, became synonymous with army pilots and later on a fashion item.^[18][19]

Foster Grant continued contributing to the growth of the eyewear industry for fashion by running large campaigns featuring celebrities. By the 1960s, the company had become synonymous with eyewear in America and was the dominant producer of sunglasses in the Western world. Ray-Ban had also become a large leader in sunglasses around this time, with its aviator style and laterWayfarer style taking off in popularity.^[19][20]

Mass-market eyewear experienced a popularity drought in the 1970s due to the dawn of luxury brands likeDior andYves Saint Laurent entering the industry, though Ray-Ban began to experience cultural revival during the 1980s due to adoption by Hollywood celebrities both inside and outside of movies.^[21]

1971 saw the rise of the Italian companyLuxottica into the scene when founderLeonardo Del Vecchio launched his finished eyeglasses at the Milan International Optics Exhibition. The next two decades saw Luxottica, at this point exclusively focusing on sunglasses, grow within Europe and slowly begin to buy up sunglasses brands and retailers; 1988 saw its first major licensing deal to produce sunglasses forGiorgio Armani. By the year 2001, Luxottica had acquired retailersLensCrafters andSunglass Hut; the company additionally acquired the entirety ofPersol in 1995 for an undisclosed amount and Ray-Ban from Bausch + Lomb in 1999 for US$640 million.^{[22][23][24][25]}

The Italian eyewear firm pulled Ray-Ban across all of the United States in order to re-engineer the product and markup Ray-Ban as a premium sunglasses brand, pushing for a global expansion afterwards; Luxottica additionally pushed Ray-Ban into far Eastern markets to diversify the brand's appeal beyond the Western World.^[26]

Luxottica's rise also occurred concurrent to a battle between theUnited Fruit Company (todayChiquita) andGoody Brands for the remaining stock of Foster Grant. Both contenders eventually lost out to the German chemicals firmHoechst AG after each company pulled out due to non-eyewear related factors. In 2006, French prescription lens makerEssilor bought Foster Grant, then reorganized into aNasdaq-traded holding company named FGX International for $465 million.^[19][27]

About a year after Essilor acquired Foster Grant, Luxottica further acquired sports eyewear manufacturerOakley in 2007 for US$2.1 billion. The acquisition followed a pricing dispute between the two companies, with Luxottica causing Oakley's stock price to plummet by pulling its product out of Luxottica-owned Sunglass Hut and LensCrafters.^[28][29] Later on in 2014 Essilor would buy upCosta Del Mar, aDaytona Beach-based sports eyewear manufacturer specializing in performance eyewear, especially forsport fishing.^[30]

In 2018, in a €48 billion deal, Essilor and Luxottica Merged, where Essilor bought Luxottica though Del Vecchio would co-lead the merged entity, which would rename itself toEssilorLuxottica. Luxottica proceeded to delist itself from theNew York Stock Exchange and theBorsa Italiana.^{[31][32][33][34]}

The internet, which first sparked interest in virtual reality, also incentivized the founding ofWarby Parker, with it stating its express purpose for being founded was to combat the high markups charged by other eyewear companies. Warby Parker disrupted the eyewear market with its price point, as well as the ability to try on up to five of its glasses for free and order products online. Since then, several companies have made their mark and improved upon the concept. Nerdy Frames, part of the newer generation of disruptors, has enhanced the quality of frames and lenses offered at a lower price point. The use of virtual try-ons and extended home trials has opened the market.^[35][36][37]

Online technologies also led to a rise in the exposure of Luxottica's dominance over the eyewear industry, withCBS's60 Minutes,CNBC, andAdam Ruins Everything all releasing episodes on the dominance that Luxottica has over eyewear.^[38][39]

In recent years,Kering has also pulled ahead into the eyewear industry by terminating its contract with Luxottica competitorSafilo and internalizing its eyewear manufacturing. Kering began its journey by negotiating a €90 million contract termination agreement with Safilo, and recruiting Safilo's former CEO to lead Kering Eyewear, a new subsidiary of the company dedicated to making homegrown eyewear products for its fashion houses. The French luxury conglomerate, which ownsGucci,Yves Saint Laurent, has since become the second largest company in eyewear and boasting a 20% share of the market as of 2020, trailing only Luxottica itself.^[40] In addition to manufacturing for its own brands and acquiring licenses for manufacturing eyewear owned byCartier-ownerRichemont, Kering also acquired previously independent eyewear companies as well to add to its roster, most notablyLindberg andMaui Jim.^[40][41][42] Similarly, to better compete against Kering's new vertical integration into eyewear,LVMH, which ownsLouis Vuitton,Dior,Fendi andBulgari ramped up efforts in its eyewear division Thelios, founded by LVMH in 2017, generally speculated as a move to compete against Kering in eyewear. LVMH also announced in 2023 that Bulgari, which had its eyewear crafted by Luxottica previously since 2003, would no longer use EssilorLuxottica as its eyewear manufacturer.^[43][44]

Since the beginning of fashionable eyewear in the 20th century, much of the eyewear industry has been headquartered in either North America or Northern Italy, with early industry giantsFoster Grant andBausch & Lomb contracting with Hollywood and the U.S. Armed Forces respectively. During the Great Depression, both Bausch & Lomb andPolaroid Corporation founderEdwin H. Land experimented withpolarization of lenses, intended to reduce glare; Bausch & Lomb's experiments delivered to American armed forces created theRay-Ban brand.^[45]

Today, the eyewear industry is estimated to reach a valuation of around US$111 billion by 2026, and US$172 billion by 2028.^[46][47]

Eyewear retail is a steadily growing business, driven by the rising global population, economic development, increased consumer purchasing power, and the global prevalence of ocular diseases.^[48] The increased use of digital screens has led to an increase invision impairment,cataracts,myopia,hypermetropia,eye irritation,dry eyes,computer vision syndrome anddouble vision.^[49][48] Sunglasses make up 42% of the global eyewear market as of 2020. They protect the eyes from sun damage and conjunctivitis, but are also sold as fashion accessories, with many consumers opting to have a number of sunglasses for different occasions.^[48]

EssilorLuxottica controls a dominant portion of the eyewear retail market. As of 2021, the largest single eyewear retail chain in the United States by sales revenue is Essilor subsidiaryVision Source, which sold US$2.672 billion in 2021. Chains controlled by the Luxottica division of EssilorLuxottica, which includeLensCrafters andSunglass Hut, made a combined US$2.41 billion that same year; the largest non-Luxottica chain by sales was National Vision Holdings, making US$2.080 billion.^[50]

• Eyepiece
• Eyewear retailer
• Optical lens design
• Optometry

• Eyewear

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