How to Spot Real Brand Name Glasses From Fake

In this blog we will be covering, on customer requests, how to tell if brand name glasses and sunglasses are fake or real. In other words what to look for when making a purchase online or from someone to make sure you are getting an authentic pair of sunglasses.

Here are some general tips on sunglasses. We will be going through each brand in later posts:

1. Does the item exists in collection?

Some sunglasses collections are rather large. In fact over the past few years brands like Dior and Gucci has been very productive with issuing new models of sunglasses. On average there is close to 40 new models issued each year. Each model comes in a variety of colors. Minimum two colors, but more often 3-4 colors. So it's hard to keep up with thousands of items, which allowed counterfeit bloom.

You have to refer to that brand official website to check most current collection. Also, on ISeeGlasses.com you will be always able to find items by the collection year. We try to keep up with all the released items and write about them in Twitter.

Many companies that make fakes don't even bother buying an actual glasses to make a replica. If you just type "buy Dior sunglasses cheap" in Google you will find many items that don't match a catalogue.
Simple way to check, if you are looking at the item on hand or online is to type the model number in search and see how it looks like. If you find the item in Dior, or whatever brand you check on their website, Neiman Marcus and our website, then item is real.

2. Do you buy from Reliable Source?

You can be assured, on ISeeGlasses, all sunglasses and glasses are 100% authentic, real and current models. You can't get old models from us because we don't stock them, they have been already sold.
We assure you by writing this blog, sending you a picture of actual item you will be getting in the mail and packaging. If you don't like what you bought, you can return them. But we can tell you 100%, you will never be returning the item because it's not real. Sunglasses from our website are real and we will prove it to you in many ways.

BE WARE. Stores like Winners and Marshalls often sell fakes. Yes, fakes. I had many people come to me showing me what they bought there for $50. And I was never able to find it in old, even 5 year old catalogues. Also, sunglasses wasn't even feeling right, missed important elements etc. It is not clear how these large stores happen to sell these items.

You would think that companies like Dior, which actually belongs to largest fashion conglomerate in the world LVMH, would be able to fight counterfeit in developed countries such as Canada or US, or even their native Italy. This is not the case. If you ever went to Rome, you would see fake items for sale right on the main streets, often in front of actual brand stores. If they can do it there, they can do it anywhere. The less developed country is, the more likely item is fake if bought on the streets somewhere. Reason is very simple: it is very expensive to fight each little guy, brand name companies don't have resources to expedite teams of lawyers after each person involved in fake chain.

So, make sure you checked your source. And by the way... on eBay, 99% of items are fake. Unless the buyer can show you the receipt where they bought if from, don't take a chance. Even $50 is a lot of money for a fake item.

One very reliable source in North America is optical boutiques. They are a major distributor for the many high end sunglasses today in Canada and the US. If boutique is located in a known shopping mall or shopping area and has been around for number of years, 99% you are getting a real item. But these stores can also demonstrate to you why their items are authentic. They have official, updated promo materials given to them by brands, knowledgeable stuff and return customers. They also have full collections of sunglasses, which as I said earlier, would not be the case elsewhere.

3. Look for Details

Everyone will tell you to look for details. But what to look for? Ideally you have seen that exact real item before online or in store to know what to look for. Unlike Luis Vuitton purses , sunglasses have way more variety of details. Shape, color, material, crystals, hinges, screws, text font and size, size of the sunglasses, where things are typed - list goes on. If you want to get a full list for each brand, check our other articles. Just type brand name in Search of this blog and see if we have a post, or simply ask us via Twitter .

4. Do Sunglasses Feel Right?

Feel can be only achieved by experience. It does not necessarily mean you have to had owned a real expensive pair of sunglasses before. You can gain experience by walking into legit stores, touching, trying, playing with the sunglasses. You can even get a pair, wear it for a few days and return it. Stores, like Sunglasshut have 90 day return policy. This should be enough to get a feel of the actual sunglasses you want to buy elsewhere for less money. Of course Sunglasshut is the most expensive place to buy sunglasses, mainly because of this return policy that costs them a lot of money. Over the years, they turned themselves into a free rental shop. Take advantage!

5. Too Good to be True?

Rule of the thumb - if item sells for less than it actual cost to retailer it is 100% fake. This is one of the reasons that even on some websites, such as ISeeGlasses.com, prices are in hundreds of dollars. All authentic sunglasses are made by hand in Italy or developed country (where what look for further posts). Skilled labor cost in such countries goes for $10-20 per hour. Especially in Italy where labor is unionized in most factories. There is also a lot of marketing expense that goes into promoting each collection, so you would want these sunglasses. Prices on ISeeGlasses.com are already discounted and we make much less per sale that optical boutique would. But we still have costs. Real sunglasses do cost over $100 per pair. 

6. Ask Us

If you are in doubt when buying from us or someone else, as us. Just ping us on Twitter, Facebook or here in blog and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Dior Sunglasses Marine Style.

Marine style is in trend again. Stripes, big shapes, bright colors - all make up a fun yacht style for Dior. Sunglasses are no exception. As you can see they are very marine, but it's not something one would wear to the office. If you can afford a pair for beach and yacht only, then you can afford a separate pair for the street or other occasion. So, if you are heading to the beach or pool party, remember to bring a pair of marine shades from Dior.

Dior CROISETTE 1	Dior CROISETTE 2
Dior SUMMERSET 2S	Dior ENTRACTE 1
Dior GRAPHIX 2	Dior MYLADYDIOR 8
Dior Tahuata	DIOR STRIKING

Canadian Olympic Uniforms are Made in Canada. Our Athletes Confirm.

After the outrage over U.S Olympic uniforms being made in China, we did some research on where is Canadian Olympic uniforms for London Olympics are made.

We asked a number of Canadian athletes to confirm where uniforms are made and received an answer from
Crispin Duenas, lead archer who represents Canadian archery Olympic team for the second time - last time in Beijing and this time in London 2012. Crispin replied on Twitter "@iseeglasses yup I can confirm that my uniform by Toxofil is made in Canada". We wish Crispin all the best luck at London this year.


Toxofil Inc, is an apparel company specializing in Archery wear. It is great to hear that Canadian Olympians selected Canadian companies even for some of the specialty wear. It would be hard to avoid using imported gear and apparel for some of the specific sports. Of course, it's understood that an athlete should be entitled to have the best at Olympic games whether it is a niche manufacturer or big firm like Adidas or Nike. But dress uniforms is a different story.

Canadian Olympic dress uniforms are made in Canada for the most part. Selected supplier is Hudson's Bay Company, also known as HBC or The Bay. While there is no official statement from The Bay over the details, NBC has confirmed via Twitter that company responded to their inquiry and confirmed that Canadian uniforms are made 85% in Canada. Let's hope that "made in" does not play around "designed in", which lately became a trend.

This has not always been the case. In 2008 there was a similar scandal with Roots over Canadian uniforms being made in China. Roots has been a preferred supplier for years not only for Canadian Olympic teams, but also for Americans. Roots, a Canadian sports and travel clothing manufacturer, was founded by American entrepreneurs Michael Budman and Don Green in 1973.

Today at the Bay you can purchase a replica of Canadian Olympic uniform. Over 70 stylish items with national maple leaf are now in stores and online. Predominantly many styles of t-shits, tops are available, also back packs, hats and even cute baby sets for $25.

Ralph Lauren Spoke About Olympic Uniforms Outrage

After a few days of the media outrage over the Ralph Lauren Olympic uniforms, the Ralph himself has issued a statement of apology. In a short statement designer apologized over the issue and promised that for 2012 Sochi Olympics the team will receive Made in USA outfits. According to him, it's too late to make a change for London Olympic team because they have already arrived to the Olympic base.

Public however is not so happy about this opinion. If you read Yahoo comments you will find, most of people are quite mistrustful:

Susan: "For more than 45 years Ralph Lauren has built a brand that embodies the best of American quality and design rooted in the rich heritage of our country." If this were true why didn't he have the uniforms manufactured in the US? His whole statement is nothing but damage control, a little too late. If people weren't so outraged over this he would have never issued this statement and the 2014 uniforms would be made in China also."


Tom: "Seems like a lot of verbiage just to say "Ooops! We got caught! But, we'll fix it the next time" Really?? Did you think nobody would notice?? And, yes my purchasing decision is OFTEN based on where something is made."


Dtown 87: "He made them in China, because he wanted to maximize his profits on one of the most prestigious events the World has to offer. I say ban Ralph Lauren from the 2014 Olympics. Let him make uniforms for the Chinese."


Many people are commenting on the design itself saying that they don't like how uniforms look or find the hats a bit too much.

Some of these comments have over 50 replies. Tom's comment has close to 2000 likes! 2000 people is a lot of people. What is remarkable is that the Olympic uniforms were suppose to bring Ralph Lauren more respect, in turn it resulted in negative publicity. It is hard to believe that while working on the uniform project nobody passed the idea by Ralph regarding consequences of "made in China". I mean there are still quite a lot of items in the Ralph Lauren store today that are indeed made in the USA. Majority is made in China, but the elite collection is not. Clearly the decision to dress 406 athletes into cheaper quality clothing was a conscious financial decision. Lesson learnt, cutting corners does not work!

Cavalia Odysseo Will Mesmerize You. My Review

I had a pleasure of attending Cavalia Odysseo show and as a big fan of all kind of cirque performances must admit that this show won my heart. The show was full of surprises such as stage filled with water and horses running through it as if they are in the wild. The acrobats performing an unbelievable stunts without any support. The production that featured the largest stage I have ever seen.

I was mostly impressed with the idea of using horses for a cirque type show. Horses are very clever, but they are very hard to train and like to be moody, especially in presence of other horses. But I guess, that made show even more entertaining. There were occasions where one horse would bite another horse bum. This is their sign of bullying. There were a few other episodes where one horse would chip off from the crown and not follow what others were doing. This was just plain cute. I was very impressed with instances when horses performed routines without riders or any people on the stage. Before I thought this was impossible.

The production itself is worth mentioning. First, the tent is made in such a way that no matter where your seat is, you get unobstructed view of the stage. My tickets were second cheapest and during the show I was wondering why would anyone want better seats? Not only my seat was very close to the stage (about 5th row), but also slightly side view allowed me to see the performance from a slight angle, capturing a lot of interesting details. Second, the size of the stage allowed horses to gallop freely and gain very very high speed for stunts. Also, it was a great idea to make a hill on the stage which allowed to create very interesting horse walks and almost dances in addition to tricks.

I highly recommend this show to anyone who loves nature, cirque and something very unique.

An Outrage Over American Olympic Uniforms 2012. Are They Safe?

It's no secret that apparel manufacturing and textile industries are practically non-existent in the USA and Canada any more. Over the past 50 years clothing production fell 95%. Yes, just in 1950s it was rare to see imported clothing, even from Europe. Today, some 80% of clothing that retails in the USA and Canada is made in China.

This however should have been an exception for military, national sports and governmental uniforms. Does not seem so. This week an outrage leaked the web that American Olympic uniforms are made in China. Designed by American Ralph Lauren blue red and white fancy jackets with retro beret has been manufactured in China from head to toe.

American Olympic Committee defends its decision citing that entire team is privately funded and therefore can't be blamed for cutting costs. Ralph Lauren is a major sponsor and the Committee is very grateful for supply of such stylish British looking uniforms.

There could be an issue with safety. Up until recently it was a law that any clothing, shoes or consumer goods used by military or national teams must be made in the USA. Number of companies took a great pride to serve the country by supplying their products to thousands of army staff and Olympic teams. From eyeglasses products Oakley was and still remains the preferred supplier.

There could be a lot of issues with safety and let's hope Ralph Lauren has it all figured out. There could be a problem with the fabric that is poisonous in a certain way. Or fabric itself could emit illegal for athletes substances. There could be something that makes their heads dizzy... So the outrage over the manufacturing issue could be expanded beyond not sparing several jobs.

Dior is Serious with Embroidery

Embroidery has been a huge trend last year. Every respectable brand has had a few things for sale that had lace or some kind of embroidery. Why suddenly? Well, perhaps it has something to do with continuous industrial revolution. Today doing embroidery is cheaper than ever. Sophisticated computerized sewers can reproduce any image with complex color combinations in a matter of minutes. 
But, Dior does not take shortcuts. Last month House of Dior has announced an acquisition of the Vermont Embroidery Ateliers. This is an old school, custom lace and embroidery shop with the specialty on hand made. The shop is still operated by its founder, Guy Vermont since 1956 - it's 56 years old. According to him, Vermont Embroidery Ateliers served many of big brand customers.
Company is committed to create products that carry high price, but are justifiable. In fact, Dior is hoping that their clothing could be like a collectible. 
So in the future we can expect to see more hand embroidered products, not only clothing, but shoes, purses, may be even glasses?