Made for China

Chinese faces are different from Westerners and most sunglasses are created according to Western facial features. But help is at hand, Gan Tian finds out.

Beijing offi ce worker Sun Lixiang has looked for but never found a satisfactory pair of sunglasses. Th e fi rst pair she bought, in 2005, was Prada. "Th ey were too big, and kept falling off my face," she complains. So, she bought a smaller pair from Ray-Ban in the summer of 2006, but they hurt her temples, as they were too tight. Just like Sun, many Chinesefashionistas have problems buying a pair of sunglasses that fi t properly. Th ere are plenty of top brands in the Chinese market, such as Oakley and Oliver Peoples, while Gucci, Prada and Louis Vuitton are also making their presence known. But the problem is, all these top-tier sunglasses are designed for Western faces.

Luxottica Group, the Italy-based leading eyewear company that stocks Ray-Ban, Prada and Versace, is addressing this problem by establishing Design Hub, in Shanghai, which specializes in designer eyewear for Asians.