Eyewear

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.

Variants of eyewear can conversely inhibit or disable vision for its bearers, such as blindfolds and view-limiting device for humans, blinkers for horses, or blinders for birds, especially poultry.

Eyewear also exists for other specialized or niche purposes, such as active shutter 3D systems and anaglyph 3D glasses for stereoscopy, and night-vision goggles for low-light environments.

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.

The innovations presented by Scarlett would not only spark some to look at aesthetic customization of eyewear for fashion within Europe but also lead Benjamin Franklin to invent bifocals in colonial America.

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 the Atlantic City Boardwalk in New Jersey.

[21] 1971 saw the rise of the Italian company Luxottica into the scene when founder Leonardo Del Vecchio launched his finished eyeglasses at the Milan International Optics Exhibition.

[26] Luxottica's rise also occurred concurrent to a battle between the United Fruit Company (today Chiquita) and Goody Brands for the remaining stock of Foster Grant.

Both contenders eventually lost out to the German chemicals firm Hoechst AG after each company pulled out due to non-eyewear related factors.

In 2006, French prescription lens maker Essilor bought Foster Grant, then reorganized into a Nasdaq-traded holding company named FGX International for $465 million.

The French luxury conglomerate, which owns Gucci, 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.

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.

As of 2021, the largest single eyewear retail chain in the United States by sales revenue is Essilor subsidiary Vision Source, which sold US$2.672 billion in 2021.