How Ray-Ban Brought Its Brand Back From The Brink

Not that long ago, in 1999, the brand was in a shambles, with its once-pioneering wares on sale for $19 at countless gas stations and convenience stores. And the quality was awful: Ray-Ban was using antiquated tooling and its frames were flimsy. It was at that rock-bottom point that Italian eyewear giant Luxottica bought Bausch & Lomb’s eyewear brands, with Ray-Ban as the deal’s crown jewel, for $640 million in 1999. And thanks to an aggressive turnaround plan, Ray-Ban staged a remarkable comeback, one that it is working hard to keep going. In 2000, Ray-Ban generated 252 million euros for Luxottica, or 10% of company sales. By 2014, that had risen more than eightfold to 2.065 billion euros, or 27% of Luxottica sales. Ray-Bay now commands 5% of the global eye wear market, and is the largest sunglasses brand, according to Euromonitor International data. Read more at Fortune.