[underlogic]

What's up with Raybans? They make the cheapest looking vanilla generic glasses I've ever seen, put a tacky logo on the lens and sell for a fortune. Why does anyone buy them?

[bear141]

Ray-ban along with almost every other glasses and sunglasses brand, and also almost all retailers of glasses are all owned by a megacorp called Luxxotica. The prices are all completely arbitrary and fixed.

Beyond this basically all prices for every consumer item are completely arbitrary. They almost never reflect real value and almost always are priced based on what people are willing to pay. Act accordingly.

[KerrAvon]

They’re vanilla now because everyone copied their designs decades ago. They’re the original.

Doesn’t mean they’re worth the cost, but now you know.

[underlogic]

I can't imagine anyone going to a whiteboard back in the day to make a pair of sunglasses and walk away with any lesser of a design than Raybans. Give human ingenuity at least some credit. you can tie your shoes you can out design Raybans

[solardev]

I think the same thing about business suits (not sure what the proper name for them is, the thing that normal CEOs and lawyers wear, with the necktie and everything). They look super hot and uncomfortable and I wore one to a wedding once and then swore them off for life. Ridiculous items. But people pay thousands for them, apparently.

Powerful apes signal status with fancy fibers, I guess.

[mikhael28]

Suits can be very comfortable to wear, even with neckties and dress shoes. The first monkeys probably though shirts were hot, stuffy and uncomfortable too. They are not ridiculous items.

[virgildotcodes]

I want people to think that I fly my biplane while wearing a furry leather bomber jacket on the weekends.

[appendix-rock]

I’m genuinely not sure how to say this without a little bit of snark, but do you…know how fashion works?

[Gigachad]

Sunglasses do seem to be taking the piss more than other items. An expensive pair of leather shoes can easily be justified by the cost of the materials, manual labor, build quality, and extended lifespan over cheaper options.

While sunglasses seem to be a bit of injection moulded plastic with some lenses for a 20x markup.

[solardev]

Lol, this is HN after all. Our fashion icons are Zucky with a hoodie (backend) or Jobs with a black turtleneck (frontend).

Raybans? How do you see the screen with those plastic goggles on?