September/October 1974. The year when it all began… The first ever edition of 20/20 was printed and published with a “Focus on Ophthalmic Product News” as the tagline to our logo. A short letter from then publisher Stuart Mann explained the reason for 20/20's birth—with the ophthalmic profession experiencing rapid growth in new products and innovations, “Your need to know… to be kept up to date… is the reason why this new publication, 20/20, has been launched. 20/20 is the only publication in the ophthalmic field devoted exclusively to bringing you all the news you must have about products, equipment, people and industry events.”
Just by looking at our first cover alone, it’s strikingly obvious how visually different we were back then. Yes, it was a different time. Five decades ago, to be exact. And we were a different size—a tabloid format, which is also commonly known as newspaper size and the reason why there are multiple articles featured on the cover in short format, designed to make “each item in 20/20 brief and to the point,” according to Mann. But out of all the stories shown, only one features eyewear; the rest cover the lens and tech, and packaging side of things (eyewear mailers??). Quite a stark contrast to the fashion covers we create today… This began to change as more issues were published, with more eyewear shown on the cover. Never discounting the lens and tech and packaging side, as these continue to be a big part of what we cover today, but eyewear product as featured back in the early days of 20/20 has evolved tremendously, especially when it comes to its style and fashion aspects. The reason I note all this? It is our 50th anniversary this year, which is an opportune time to look back at the early days of our inception and see how far we have come. It’s also the perfect segue way into the history of Independent Eyewear, the focus for our first issue of the new year. We’ll be delving into a variety of categories in each issue throughout 2024, looking back and onward at these categories as defined by 20/20. This month, we present to you the first on our agenda this year—Independent Eyewear.
–Christine Yeh
One of the founding principles of 20/20 was to support the independent retailer. That still remains at our core today. But the term “Independent Eyewear” didn’t exist back then. In fact, eyewear was one large category with no major distinguishing classifications, except for women’s and men’s eyewear, but the majority of the categories as we know them today were not clearly defined back then. And certainly in the early days while eyewear was considered an accessory (and first and foremost, a medical device), the fashion and style side of it was nowhere near as pronounced as it was in the decades that followed. Some eyewear manufacturers at the time began to embrace the fashion side, but in large part, frames were worn because it was a necessity and not so much used as a fashion statement. Sunglasses certainly made more of a fashion statement but with optical specs, they were purely an accessory (and more in the utility sense) to one’s outfit. And let’s not forget, there were often stereotypical connotations drawn with glasses wearers being “nerdy” or “geeky.” (Thankfully, we have since come a LONG way with that today.)
Much of this began to change in the late ’70s and ’80s when eyewear companies jumped on fashion and lifestyle branding. Zyloware launched its first American designer brand license with Gloria Vanderbilt. Luxottica and Giorgio Armani joined forces for a powerhouse licensing agreement. More brands soon followed, but the common denominator was a focus on fashion and lifestyle branding portrayed by well known fashion designers and popular lifestyle brands. This launched eyewear into the fashion realm, opening the world’s eyes to eyewear being a viable and statement-making fashion accessory. This explosion in fashion and lifestyle licensing went on to rule for the next three decades, throughout the ’80s, ’90s and 2000s.
Meanwhile, behind this mainstream fashion scene, a small crop of eyewear manufacturers began to cultivate a new scene—one where frames draw from the culture of optical itself. One where frames are crafted by dedicated eyewear designers and not necessarily dictated by the brand style guidelines of fashion houses. These eyewear companies were not unknown to 20/20—we still featured them in the magazine along with the fashion and lifestyle brands. As much us as we coveted designer brands, we recognized that great eyewear was not limited to just these brands. As we began to feature companies such as Lafont, Morel, Modo and l.a.Eyeworks to name a few, it became apparent that our readers were noticing: There is something special about frames with purely an optical soul. Frames that don’t rely on fashion branding or in your face logos. Frames that eyewear afficionados can treasure as special pieces in their wardrobes.
And that’s when 20/20 saw the opportunity to define this new category in eyewear—we called it Our Eyewear. With the premise that this is eyewear born and bred on an optical heritage, as stated in my column in our August 2012 issue: “We call it Our Eyewear for two simple reasons: This is eyewear not only eyewear designers and manufacturers can call their own; it’s also eyewear optical retailers can stake a claim to—eyewear that adds unique character and dimension to your product offerings. It’s eyewear exclusive to OUR industry.”
This category continued to see flourishing growth—some were longtime heritage brands that continued to gain loyal followers. Others were newer to the scene but started to acquire cult-like followings. But the mutual desire to return to optical’s own roots was at the heart of Our Eyewear as 20/20 further defined the category with our coverage via our Style Feature photo shoots, our Artist of the Frame interviews and introducing new collections in our products section.
A few years later, we felt it was necessary to reinforce this category a step further and take the lead to solidify what has been clear all along: This surge in eyewear built on an optical heritage is directly tied to the powerful stand independent retailers are taking to bolster their position in a fast-changing market. It’s a declaration of INDEPENDENTS. And with that, we renamed this category to Independent Eyewear in 2016.
Today in 2024, as we celebrate 50 years of our heritage in optical, we’re proud to be the leading voice in a category we coined in our quest to continue to make our declaration of support for independents—from both the retailer and the vendor side. The commitment to creativity, collaboration and resilience, so needed and ever so strong especially in the wake of the challenges in the last few years brought on by a worldwide pandemic, remains staunchly powerful and will continue to instill a growing sense of pride and tradition now and for generations to come.
