Cheap Look Alike Sunglasses: You Get What You Pay For
Go to any flea market in virtually every part of the world and you will most likely see mostly the same things: knock-offs of designer goods. You will find perfumes “inspired by” Chanel Number 5 or sunglasses that are “exactly like” the Ray-Ban Wayfarer. In reality, these cheap look alike sunglasses bear only a superficial resemblance to the original product they are imitating. It would do the potential buyer well to remember this fact and not labor under the illusion that the rip-off that he plans to buy is just as good as the original, only far less expensive.
Sunglasses of excellent quality should first and foremost be able to fully protect the wearer’s eyes from dangerous ultraviolet rays, infrared light, and blue light. Naïve or ignorant buyers tend to believe that cheap look alike sunglasses with very dark lenses are capable of doing the job. Nothing could be further from the truth. The color or tint of lenses is not indicative of their ability to block these harmful light rays; it has to do with how the lenses are processed, how they are coated, and the materials from which they are made. All that a pair of cheap imitation sunglasses does is block some of the light, but none of the UV rays that can cause diseases like macular degeneration, photokeratitis, eye cancer, and cataracts.
Most of the lenses of brand-name sunglasses today are made from very tough and high-grade materials, making them scratch-resistant and shatterproof. Two of these materials are polycarbonate and CR-39 plastic. The lenses undergo strict testing to make sure they comply with standards set forth by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) – or at least those lenses manufactured and sold in the United States – before they are introduced to the market. Imitation sunglasses are usually made of just cheap plastic that can break at the slightest impact.
Intellectual property and royalty issues aside, it is not really advisable to spend one’s money on cheap look alike sunglasses, affordable as they may be – especially those found in flea markets. They are different from many replica sunglasses now, whose quality and level of workmanship have improved vastly. The imitation sunglasses found in street bazaars or those hawked by street vendors may look good initially and may seem like a great bargain, but the wearer will usually find out sooner or later (more likely sooner) to his or her dismay that cheap look alike sunglasses are just that – cheap. Both in terms of price and quality.
