You know the routine. A musician or writer gets asked about their most current CD (I refuse to call it a “download”) or book, and the response is an immediate self-proclaimed accolade that “This one’s the best one EVER!” Right. Everything else was just practice. All other efforts led up to this new magnum opus. Forget MY past. THIS is my present. THIS is your FUTURE.
Oddly though, it can’t really be any other way. The current agenda is truly the most important one. And that’s my feeling about this particular issue’s eyewear category dubbed GenEYE both here, now, and in its position in the monthly scheme of things for 20/20 on a yearly cycled basis.
Trust me, I well understand the personal fanaticism invested in sport eyewear and luxury and men’s frames and women’s favorites and kids eyewear (get ready, it’s coming next month both here with the August 20/20 and in our biggest and best KidzBiz supplement ever!) and the materials and technological breakthroughs inherent to eyewear… BUT… GenEYE actually covers it all in the important guise of what trendsetters are really thinking about when it comes to new eyewear.
Although we function under the guise that these GenEYE types are of a certain youth-oriented demographic, that is actually NOT the case. The “age” thing is quite irrelevant since the true determining factor is a person’s ability to impact and sway consumer opinions on what’s hot and what’s not when it comes to shapes and colors and materials inherent to a frame’s design.
And this emerging POP to any eyewear’s popularity is also not hinged on price. Luxury is nice (heck, I’ll take that Bentley over a Kia any day) but the ability to earn swoons doesn’t depend hard on dollars. Big bucks go a long way toward insuring quality and longevity but those factors are not in the front brigade of determining GenEYE power.
That’s why the brew of eyewear presented in this issue (in BOTH style features, “A Whole New GenEYE Nation” and “GenEYE Rules”) is a stunning mix of what’s going to be hot right now. At 20/20 we like it that way. And… I personally LOVE it that way. GenEYE, I salute you.
