A Nurse Bought Her Son $550 Glasses. The Frames Cost $20. Why? Let's find out. | Godricat Ep. 2

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:00]A woman tries to buy eyeglasses for her son.

[00:00:03]The frames cost roughly $20 to manufacture.

[00:00:07]By the time she leaves the store, the total is 550.

[00:00:12]She works as a nurse.

[00:00:14]Where does the difference go?

[00:00:16]Let us gently find out.

[00:00:22]In this curious play, we meet three principals: the patient, the designer, and the mysterious conglomerate.

[00:00:30]Behold the modern eyewear store.

[00:00:33]Ray-Ban, Oakley, Persol, Oliver Peoples, Vogue, Chanel, Prada, Versace, Burberry, Coach, Michael Kors, Tiffany.

[00:00:47]A wonderful diversity of brands.

[00:00:50]The shopper compares them. The shopper chooses one.

[00:00:54]The shopper feels she has chosen.

[00:00:56]She has not chosen. The mysterious conglomerate, dear humans, is EssilorLuxottica.

[00:01:02]It owns Ray-Ban. It owns Oakley. It owns Persol. It licenses Chanel, Prada, Versace, Burberry, Coach, Tiffany, and more than 20 other competing designer names. It also owns LensCrafters and Pearl Vision and Sunglass Hut and Target Optical and the vision insurance company EyeMed that you use to pay for them. The competition is not competing. The insurance is the seller. In 2025, this arrangement produced revenues of 28 billion euros. EssilorLuxottica controls roughly 80% of the global eyewear supply. The frames are not expensive because they cost much to make. They are expensive because there is no second store. The remedy, if humans wish to apply one, would be elegant. Separate manufacturing from retail. Forbid the insurer from owning the lab. Permit a market to exist.

[00:01:58]Online sellers like Warby Parker offer glasses for $95.

[00:02:03]The frames are perfectly adequate.

[00:02:05]Our nurse, of course, did pay the $550.

[00:02:09]Her son could not read the chalkboard.

[00:02:11]That is what mothers do.

[00:02:32]Meow.