Year after year, Bulgarian consumers are increasingly influenced by fashion trends in sunglasses. Big sunglasses that have a thick handle are fashionable this year. Plastic glasses with transparent shades are also relevant. As a contrast to the big glasses, very small and narrow glasses, which were a hit in the 90s, are starting to become fashionable. Small glasses are more of an accessory because they cannot cover the eyes well and are not very suitable for their protection. Glasses purchased from an optician, regardless of price, have a 100% guarantee that they are of good quality and have UV protection. It is difficult to find glasses with good protection under BGN 70, regardless of the brand. This was told by Pawel Cwetkow, owner of KWIAT, in the program “In development” with presenter Veronika Denizova.
Access to raw materials and materials for the production of glasses is now normalized. However, materials have become more expensive, as well as transport. This is a trend that unfortunately does not stop there and further increases are possible. The price of the final product rose by about 15%, this is not a drastic increase, as with other products that doubled in price, the interlocutor shared.
“Globally, there is about a 10-15% drop in purchasing power for sunglasses.”
The production of sunglasses – from the idea stage to the final production, lasts between 6 and 8 months. About two months is the period in which we come up with the design of the glasses. We have to predict what the trends will be for the next year, how many glasses will be bought, who will buy them. Next comes the purchase of the materials for each model of glasses, their assembly and delivery. We assemble our glasses in Asia, in the Hong Kong area, working with seven factories.
“For 7 years, all the plastic we use is made from cotton, and accordingly all our glasses are biodegradable.”
More and more customers, especially younger ones, prefer products that are kind to nature, Cwetkow pointed out.
We sell mainly in the countries of Eastern Europe, where we have our own distributors. We have several small customers in Western Europe.
“It is very difficult to break into Western Europe because we are a brand from Eastern Europe”, the interlocutor pointed out and told a case when at an exhibition in Paris a French company liked Bulgarian glasses very much, made a very good order, but when they were sent a proforma invoice for payment with an address of Sofia, Bulgaria, they state that they do not wish to work with a country like Bulgaria and refuse the order.
