I bought my originals for $5 in a little hole in the wall place. Best sunglasses I ever had and I literally miss them every time I put on any sunglasses. Although you can find them much cheaper than $600, I've seen prices as high as $2700. It took me three years to find out who made them, serial number, etc. and then I waited 3 more years because I just couldn't justify the price.
Last night, I figured I'd waited and been frugal enough and just bought a pair.
The frames weren't just stamped out and shoved out the door.
Same with some of the knock-offs. There is no magic or particularly difficult task involved in manufacturing them.
High quality glasses can be made cheap.
Raybans are a good example. That company was able to produce a quality products at a lower price, and did well.
Too well. So Luxottica bought them and has been increasing prices ever since.
The business model of destroy all competition, then charge what you want, is a very successful model.
I went into a RayBan factory in Rochester, NY a few years back. I can't see how knock-offs could be better quality than those were at the time. The frames weren't just stamped out and shoved out the door. Each frame was polished and shaped first in small lots by machine, then inspected by a worker. I don't mean just a cursory inspection to make sure the earpieces were on right. I mean each frame was looked over carefully and finished polished by hand. These people were proud of their work and their product. Soon after I was there, Bausch and Lomb sold brand and the plant shut down, so I can't say anything about the quality now.