As a proud owner of Ray-Ban eyewear, I have loved seeing the “Made in Italy” right next to the Ray-Ban logo.
Recently, I had to purchase eyeglasses and fell in love with the Ray-Ban Optics RB 7014. Selected the frame and really looked forward to receiving my eyeglasses, especially with the “Made In Italy” words on it.
But to my surprise, I saw the following:
Yes… “Made in China”…
I was confused… I purchased my eyeglasses from a reputable eye doctor in my area, the case and cleaning cloth show the Ray-Ban name and so does my eyeglasses. They look legit!
So, I had to do my research and learned that Luxottica Group has manufacturing facilities in China and are moving production for various items to China.
This article does a good job of explaining why.
And there are a few people who confirmed through e-mail from Luxottica Group that Ray-Ban eyewear are being made in China.
While I come to accept this as inevitable, as business for a lot of companies, when it comes to lowering manufacturing costs are having facilities in China, for those who have grown up with Ray-Ban and took pride in seeing the “Made in Italy” will feel weird of now seeing Ray-Bans with “Made in China”. But that is the wave of the future for eyewear for many other companies and we just have to get used to it.
Meanwhile, that may make things much more difficult when purchasing online not knowing if the Ray-Ban eyewear is legit or a knockoff, but if you purchase a Ray-Ban from a reputable online store or brick and mortar store, you’ll be fine. Also, there are always some key things, from the case to the cleaning cloth and the information piece that comes with the eyewear.
But with that being said… If you purchase Ray-Bans and they say “Made in China”, don’t worry too much… Just know that they may not be knockoffs.
