 Subscribe
to SunAdvisor |
Sun Advisor Archives |
VisionMonday |
 |
 |
| A Monthly Update about Sunwear Trends for ECPs, Optical Retailers and Sun Specialists | January 2007 |
Made possible by an unrestricted grant from Jobson Research
 |
||||||||||||||
| Au Neutral
Hold the Expresso Latte, café au lait, caramel, honey… they may sound like yummy options off the Starbuck’s menu but they also happen to describe the hottest trend in sunwear right now. Beige, bone, camel and fawn, neutral-colored sunglasses are playing it anything but safe. So next time you order a cappuccino with cinnamon ask if it comes in a wrap around or an aviator.
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||
Eye Solutions Ushers in the Future for a Neighborhood Rooted in the Past NEW YORK—When you consider that the average rent for Manhattan retail space is $106 per square foot opening a 4,000 square foot optical shop in Chinatown is no small feat. Couple that with the fact that there is a high concentration of similar shops, an estimated 12 to 14, in a neighborhood covering roughly two square miles and it seems like a fool’s folly. But that is exactly what Calvin Tse and his partners did when they opened Eye Solutions a year ago.
To do that, they designed their new store in a way that would be attractive to customers. They gave this Eye Solutions a warmer, more modern boutique look so a passersby would have no hesitation walking in. Because Chinatown is a tourist destination, not only do they have the distinction of being a high-end neighborhood shop attracting a strong Asian clientele, but they draw in a lot of tourists, especially European tourists looking to capitalize on the weaker U.S. dollar.
That older clientele aside, Calvin says the majority of his customers are in their late 20s to early 40s; people who appreciate fashion and have the disposable income to buy it. Since the majority of his business is generated from walk-ins, as opposed to appointments, he tries to make sure his selection is unique. Though his best selling lines are Gucci, Ray Ban and Cartier, he carries a mix that appeals to true fashion innovators, lines not necessarily everyone will recognize except true fashion trendsetters who appreciate the design and the craftsmanship of it . “We do a fair amount of business in that and I think that’s the business trend in the future, in order to get interest you have to be able to do that,” said Tse. “If you just sell the Gucci, the Christian Dior, they are great. They’re an easy sale but everybody sells the same thing and they don’t build character for your store. We’re looking for character builders.” Along those lines he carries ic! Berlin, Mykita, Loree Rodkin, Lindberg, Urband, Gold & Wood, Christian Roth, Kio Yamato, Kata, and Tag Heuer. He also understands that simply offering the best product mix is not going to be enough to compete in an already saturated area. He believes only a truly luxurious experience will change the deeply For a firsthand look, Eye Solutions is located at 33 Mott Street, New York, N.Y. 10013; (212) 349-8688. |
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||
Money-making tips for merchandising, POP and display Luxottica Revamps Anne Klein POP PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y.—In keeping with the revamp of the Anne Klein brand across the board, Luxottica has redesigned the available POP for their Anne Klein collections. The window displays and in-store merchandising materials are crafted from the same materials and designs seen in the new Anne Klein boutiques. The offerings include new countercards featuring super model Carolyn Murphy, etched acrylic logo blocks, three piece, six-piece, and 24-piece modern metal and plexi-glass displays and a chrome and plexi-glass adjustable mirror. Retailers receive three logo block cubes and a three-piece display with the purchase of 12 Anne Klein frames. The mirror comes with the purchase of 15 frames. The six-piece display is available with the purchase of 20 frames and the 24-piece countertop rotator with the purchase of 40 frames.
|
||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
New Lines and Launches...
|
||||||||||||||
Smith’s V Ti sunglasses are the only sunglass to be named to National Geographic Adventure’s “Best of Adventure Gear” list. Announced at the “Adventurer of the Year” ceremony held in November, the glasses were featured in the December issue of National Geographic Adventure magazine. “Best for cycling or running, the feathery frame has all the heft of a butterfly wing, the lens optics are crisp, and venting is so good that fogging is rarely a concern,” said Steve Casimiro, National Geographic Adventure’s gear expert and editor. In addition to being celebrated at the November event, the gear will be displayed at Adventure magazine events from January through March 2007.
excited about wearing the new Rudy Project glasses, which have accompanied me in my greatest victories in amateur competitions,” Basso said. He is now testing the brand new Syluro glasses made from CarboGrilamid, for strength and lightness, with ImpactX photochromic polarized lenses. Plans are not only for a new victory in the Tour of Italy, but on winning the most important competition of them all--the Tour de France. Shown here is Cristiano Barbazza, president of Rudy Project, right, with Ivan Basso.
design award is one of the world’s three leading design awards and proudly claims a 50-old-year history. Every year at the Hannover Exhibition Centre, in Hannover, Germany, approximately 2,000 products from 37 countries are judged by renowned experts, with the best of them receiving an iF seal of outstanding design quality which bestows upon that product worldwide recognition value, guaranteeing its owner a place on the cutting edge of contemporary design. Shown here are the winning frames, Erik, top, and Curtis, bottom.
But Eye Solutions isn’t just an eyewear boutique; they have two doctors available seven days a week. They carry approximately 500 units of sunwear, which account for approximately 20 percent to 25 percent of their total sales, with a full 80 percent of those units being Rx-able. Calvin estimates the ophthalmic capture rate from his doctor’s patients to be approximately 90 percent with second pair sunglass sales around 30 percent in the summer. In the winter, the second pair sale of sunglasses slows down to 15 percent to 20 percent. “We try to educate the patients that there is a lot of UV damage in the wintertime but it takes time to get the message out,” said Tse. “A lot of my older clientele don’t really understand the concept of UV and how it damages eyes, so conceptually it takes a little while for them to acquire the knowledge and get familiar with sunglasses.” 
engrained perception of Chinatown. To that end, he has a “V.I.P. Room” in the works; a separate display area for his truly high end lines. It is a more elegantly designed area where future trunk shows and receptions will be held. “The V.I.P. Room is for the ‘Madision Ave.’ crowd to differentiate it from the main bulk of the product,” said Tse. “Separating it and placing it in an exclusive room adds to its perceived value.” 
In this edition...
| |||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||
Subscribe to our other e-newsletters:
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
Sun Advisor, a Vision Monday® newsletter, is published
by Jobson Medical Information LLC,
100 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10013.