“In the days of $200 sweatpants, consumers will be relieved at the outcome of this study” -Anonymous, Rockaway, March 18th, 2023
“ZZ Top knew this in the ’80s, ‘got to get me some cheap sunglasses.” –Zed, long distance over the phone from Detroit, March 19th, 2023
“The implications of this study are vast. If it applies to sunglasses, it works for all fashion accessories. Goodbye Fifth Avenue extravagance.” Jennifer, LES, March 17th, 2023, between sips of green beer.
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I did a sneaky thing on Friday night with my social media accounts. Not an immoral or dishonest thing, but it was sneaky. I posted these three photos and asked which pair of sunglasses was better, the yellow or the green.
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The green ones are Ray-Ban’s, and the yellow ones are inexpensive glasses, costing ten dollars or less. I’ve had both for several years. As for brand names, you don’t get much more iconic than Ray-Bans. However, on my Instagram and Facebook posts, no one noticed or mentioned that one pair was Ray-Bans. So the question is, do brand names or supposed quality matter in today’s fashion world?
In fact, in this personal social media study, about half of all participants liked the yellow ones better than the green ones. And on Instagram, the yellow was the clear favorite. On Facebook, the green ones had a few more votes as the favorite.
My Instagram is more of my skate friends, and Facebook is more of my library friends. Both skateboarders and librarians are fashion-forward in different ways. I won’t attempt to go through the nuances of contrasting fashion trends between skaters and librarians, but I was frankly surprised that the fact that one pair wore Ray-Bans did not play into anyone’s preference.
I’d venture to say that in decades past, any pair of Ray-Bans would be the choice compared to cheap sunglasses. Now, to me, it’s individuality that drives people who care what they wear. You can have an 80-dollar pair of jeans with a 10-dollar shirt or vice versa. I even go to a few online sites for discounted shoes. All sorts of clothes can be appealing, and the consumer has more choices than ever.
To end this, I’ll state that if you’re going to invest in Ray-Bans or expensive shades, go somewhere to try them on before you buy them. I purchased these Ray-Ban sunglasses from their site, and I matched the green and purple frames. In hindsight, I guess I was going for the Penguin in Batman look, which might not be the best example of Ray-Bans in this world. The yellow pair is an excellent example of affordable sunglasses. So this study means nothing, ha.
