Garrett Leight California Optical is making the bounce from China to Japan for its future manufacturing.
The Los Angeles-based eyewear model has been manufacturing almost all of its assortment in China since its founding 15 years in the past. However the extra tariffs positioned on the nation by the Trump administration earlier this 12 months led the corporate to seek for alternate options.
Beginning with the autumn ’25 assortment, all Garrett Leight eyewear shall be made in Japan, a rustic broadly thought of to be the head of eyewear manufacturing worldwide, Leight stated.
When he began his independently owned model, Leight used Chinese language factories due to their sharp pricing. However over time, his firm was one of many solely luxurious eyewear manufacturers to proceed manufacturing there. Most of his rivals had been utilizing factories in Europe or Japan.
As early as 2021, he started researching shifting his manufacturing out of China, so when the tariffs hit this spring, he’d already executed his homework. “The tariffs performed an enormous function,” he stated. “So on April 1 when the announcement was made, I grew to become an absolute tariff knowledgeable.”
He had already begun testing Japanese manufacturing, notably for the Garrett Leight Blue assortment, a reimagined line of the corporate’s Without end Traditional items that was launched earlier this 12 months.
“This step represents greater than a manufacturing improve,” stated Leight. “It’s a mirrored image of every thing we’ve realized and beloved over the previous 15 years — our deep respect for the artwork of eyewear, our dedication to timeless model and premium supplies, and above all, our gratitude to the loyal neighborhood who has grown with us since Day One.”
The choice to maneuver all manufacturing to Japan will end in a small value enhance, he stated, with opening value level product retailing for $395, up from $355. The supplies will stay the identical, and he stated all indications level to the truth that his wholesale clients shall be OK with the value will increase.
“We’ve labored tirelessly to make sure that the rise in pricing stays minimal,” Leight stated. “As a result of we nonetheless imagine in providing one of the best worth in luxurious eyewear — a steadiness of fashion, model, service, high quality and value that nobody else delivers fairly like we do.”
The autumn 2025 assortment will commemorate the corporate’s fifteenth anniversary and have fun its heritage by bringing again a few of its hottest types in contemporary colorways with refined building.
