Who is Oliver Peoples?

Posted by Georgy | 12/18/2011

By David Gill


The now famous Oliver Peoples eyewear brand was started in 1986 when two opticians, Larry and Dennis Leight were encouraged by friends to start their own business. They opened their first boutique on the famous Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. The boutique was set up to start selling vintage sunglasses that were American made that the pair had just bought at an auction.

The collection includes literally thousands of America made metal frames and rimless glasses as well as clip on metal sunglasses that had been produced by American companies such as American Optical and Bausch & Lomb. The pair was very lucky as all of the frames were unworn, in mint condition and still in the original packaging. The goldmine allowed the Leight's to survive the opening of the business.

They purchased the entire collection available and along with it a receipt signed with the name "Oliver Peoples", the original owner of the collection. When deciding to sell the glasses in their boutique the pair found it fitting that the company was named after the owner and Oliver Peoples the brand was born.

Once the company had been set up and was successfully selling the eyewear they purchased at auction the pair realised what the next step was. The brand was going to design and sell a collection of eyewear and implement innovative marketing strategies, becoming a high end retail brand of eyewear.

The first collection by the brand was released in 1987 at an expo and was heavily influenced by the collection of vintage frames that the pair had originally sold. The collection was introduced at wholesale and became popular with distributors due to the unique designs. At the time the whole eyewear industry was dominated by futuristic frames seen on sci fi films.

The eyewear range offered by Oliver Peoples was a sharp contrast to the other manufacturers at the time and were popular with runway fashion. The fashion industry was about to take a sharp turn into vintage inspired designs and so the brand was able to capitalise on this change in creative direction and become very successful.




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