Oliver Peoples eyewear started with the opening of their first boutique opticians on Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles in 1987. The founders had a vision of selling eyewear frames that were designed and made in the ‘machine age’ of the 1920’s and 1930’s. They began to acquire old unused stock from a liquidated company that had bought up frames from established American manufacturers such as American Optical and Bausch & Lomb. Both of these companies were renowned in the machinery and optical market at the time and supplied many American eyewear brands with eyeglasses.
The founders quickly realised that a lot of the boxes full of reclaimed frames had a particular name ‘Oliver Peoples’. Whether this was an individual or a company, perhaps even a distributor, who knows? In any case, they liked the British sounding name and so decided to call their new company Oliver Peoples.
Over the years, Oliver Peoples has become synonymous with beautiful, hand crafted, retro inspired but eminently wearable eyewear. In the Eighties, like with a lot of fashion of the time, eyewear was colourful, brash, very angular and imported from abroad in quantity with the emphasis on keeping costs low.
Oliver Peoples sought to be the opposite of this trend with frame styles harking back to natural colours and rounder vintage styles of a bygone era, using the finest quality materials and superior manufacturing methods.
Like their predecessors, the Oliver Peoples branding is subtle, almost minimalist. Soon after opening their first (And still flagship store), selling the acquired vintage frames, the company started to design their own eyewear. These designs were in keeping with the retro look, materials, machining and handcrafting techniques used in their first ‘collection’.
This philosophy of both the look and manufacturing led to word of mouth referrals to the new optical boutique and Oliver Peoples stores soon became the place to go for Hollywood A-Listers to browse and buy their spectacles and sunglasses. The general public had a window into this new designer of retro spectacles, worn by film stars, but which they could wear in their everyday lives. And so Oliver Peoples began their rise to global success.
designerglasses.co.uk have now stocked Oliver Peoples for over a year and are proud to have seen both interest and demand in this iconic brand exceed expectations. For more information on any Oliver Peoples designs, please contact us on 0800 7318118.
