The Wayfarer
When first hearing a product described as “a mid-century classic to rival Eames chairs and Cadillac tail fins,” one begins racing through the potential candidates for this coveted title. Famous chairs, clothing items, textiles, and inventive pieces of technology immediately come to mind. Surprisingly this description speaks of a pair of sunglasses so iconic that they have been in and out of style for the past fifty years. The Ray Ban Wayfarer was first introduced in 1952. Ray Stegeman, a pioneer of plastic technology, designed these sunglasses as a transition out of the thin-frame metal sunglasses that had been produced up until this point. Wayfarers were a huge hit throughout the 1950s, but did not really gain widespread recognition for about ten years. Then in 1961, Audrey Hepburn was featured wearing the turtle shell Wayfarer in her hit movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Celebrity endorsement was huge throughout the 1950s and 60s, and the sunglasses were seen on notables like John Lennon, Bob Dylan, James Dean, John F. Kennedy, Roy Orbison, and Andy Warhol to name a few.
The popularity of the sunglasses then began to dip throughout the 1970s, almost to the point of discontinuation. Luckily the style was revitalized in the early 1980s through a huge (fifty-thousand dollar) product placement deal. Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi were featured wearing the Wayfarers in The Blues Brothers, followed by Tom Cruise in Risky Business. This was really the jumping-off point for the signature style, skyrocketing sales from 18,000 pairs per year to over 360,000 pairs per year. By 1986, the sunglasses had appeared in box office hits Miami Vice and Moonlighting, and sales had hit over 1.5 million pairs per year. Wayfarers were beginning to be seen not only on celebrities like Jack Nicholson and Anna Wintour, but also on musicians like Johnny Marr and Elvis Costello. A collection of short stories entitled The Informers, by Bret Easton Ellis, even mentioned the sunglasses several times. Ray Ban responded quickly by increasing its offering of only two models in 1981 to more than forty models by 1989.
This popularity lasted through the early 90s, and gradually began to waver off toward the turn of the century. In 1999, the entire Ray Ban Company was bought out by the Luxicotta Group – a group responsible for the design and distribution of frames for several high-end companies such as Chanel, Dolce & Gabana, Donna Karan, and Burberry.
The Wayfarer was given a huge boost under the guidance of marketing director Fabio d’Angelantonio. He decided to completely shut down distribution of the signature style for six months so that it could be perfected before being re-released into the market. The frame was redesigned to be a little smaller and lighter, for comfort purposes. The colour palette was also updated to incorporate both red and white. Of course, the classic tortoise shell and black frames were still included.
In terms of marketing strategy, much of the old marketing campaigns were abandoned in favour of a fresher, more modern approach. According to d’Angelantonio, celebrities have helped to bring the Wayfarer back, but the new ad campaigns focus on “regular guys and girls.” The re-launch also geared its product toward a new audience – a younger rock and roll crowd. Recently, Ray Ban hosted a photography exhibit of modern-day musicians wearing the Wayfarer frame. The exhibit featured photos shot by famed photographer Mick Rock, as well as photos of classic bands shot by others. A quick look at the figures proves that these new strategies have worked out fantastically for the company. Today, Ray Ban sells approximately 12 million units per year (split between sunglasses and eyewear). This accounts for between thirteen and fourteen percent of total sales for Luxicotta, making it one of their most profitable brands.
The strategies being implemented by Luxicotta have also helped to increase brand awareness. As of 2000, Ray Ban was listed at number 40, with an estimated retail volume of $300 million in the WWD Top 100 most recognizable brands. In 2003, Ray Ban moved up to number 34, with an estimated retail volume of $378.5 million. In 2006, Ray Ban was listed at number 5 in WWD’s Top 100 most recognizable accessory brands.
All in all, it seems that the Wayfarer and Ray Ban itself have always been a large part of the fashion industry that will continue weaving its way in and out of style for years to come.
(sources cited in hard copy)
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2 comments:
I like the chronological story and coverage you built around these glasses.
Once again we are witnesses to the great power of publicity and the easy to convince consumers. I think beyond being a cool and simple design pair of glasses, the “wayfarer” became a symbol in 20th century society, all over the world. I had no clue what glasses you were talking about until you mentioned the “blues brothers” and since it was all obvious. The history of this object and the fact that it reaches its peak of fame decades after its first production is amazing.
We can see another example of how the industry uses celebrities to actually force an item over us, even if we don’t like it, most of us will use/wear it just to project a certain social status, and the ones amongst us that wouldn’t give up to the media brainwashing, I guess we can call them “the wayfarer rebels”…
Oz Etzioni.
I think the Luxicotta Group did a really good job in bring the Wayfarer glasses back in to fashion. The Marketing strategy of putting off the product out of the market for a while and reposition the product for Wayfarer glasses is really important. Also like what Oz said, the publicity had a lot of power on bring something back to life.
I myself actually owned the new Wayfarer glasses. Which is called the"RB2140" it is slightly bigger than the original Wayfarer glasses. Even though the Wayfarer glasses is bought by the Luzicotta Group, it still contain some luxury kind of feeling. It might be because each one of the glasses is hand made in Italy.
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