In the past, sunglasses are expensive luxury goods and are only for rich people. Nowadays, it has become an accessory for daily life, especially in Europe and America. Almost everyone has four to five pairs of sunglasses or even more. People love to wear cool sunglasses that match their clothes when hanging out throughout the year.
Apart from being an accessory, sunglasses also prevent us from UV damages, which indicates that there is a huge demand for sunglasses and boost large volumes of sunglasses business. In China especially, the number of sunglasses factories is enormous due to the most intact global supply chain in the country.
If you are a sunglasses enthusiast and would like to start your own business, whereas you have no clue where to start off. In this article, you will find all the answers you need to know.
The article contains the following part.
. Different types of sunglasses.
. The ways for find reliable China sunglasses suppliers
. Where are the sunglass manufacturers in China.
. How sunglasses is made.
. Testing and certificates.
. Packing of products.
. What the sunglasses trends of 2021.
Different types of sunglasses.
Fashion Sun glasses 
Custom Promotion Sunglasses 
Sport Sunglasses
Sunglasses can be categorized by gender and age – Male, Female and Kids. It can be roughly categorized by designs as follows:
A. Lifestyle fashion sunglasses
When sunglasses were first created, it is just for protecting our eyes from the dazzling sunlight and ultraviolet rays. As time went by, they have become one of the people’s pursuits of fashion. Here are some samples for lifestyle sunglasses.
B. Sports sunglasses
Sports sunglasses are designed to protect our eyes during outdoor activities such as cycling, climbing, jogging or fishing.
C. Customized promotional sunglasses
Mainly offered by merchants to consumers as gifts for festival promotion or brand promotion. Usually, these glasses are cheap and the color or pattern of glasses is tailor-made for customers.
D. Polarized sunglasses
Other than normal sunlight and ultraviolet rays, the light will give off an irregular diffuse reflection when it passes through the uneven surface, water, and other objects. This is also known as “Glare”, which may cause eyestrain. As they can effectively filter glare, polarizing lenses sunglasses become very popular among consumers.
Ways to find reliable China sunglasses suppliers
In the new era of the Internet, it’s not hard to approach a supplier in China, but it’s not easy to find a reliable one either. Here are some hints to help you avoid detours when finding a reliable supplier.
A. Find reliable sunglasses supplier online
There are two ways to find suppliers on the Internet. The first one is to search the keywords directly on Google. The keywords should consist of the type of products with factories, suppliers, vendors, and manufacturers, etc.. then to add on words such as China or Chinese. In this way, there will be popping up many Chinese supplier sites such as “china sunglasses manufacturers”, “Chinese sunglasses manufacturers”, “private label sunglasses manufacturers”, etc.
Well, not all the suppliers you found are professional and reliable. So once you have searched these suppliers, screen them until you find the suppliers that are fully reliable and can really help your business. The following points can help you decide whether these suppliers are the ones you are looking for.
– Check their website if they are professional and gives you decent experience.
– They offer products that match your expectation.
– Email and ask them as many questions as possible, including production process, quality control, whether the factory has passed Social Audit inspection, whether they hold test reports or export certification. Gather this information to have a rough picture of the factory’s strength. You can have a basic judgment on their professionalism and efficiency by checking on email responsiveness, their attitude towards customers in dealing with problems.
– If you are urgently looking for contacts of the supplier, you can reach out to them online (if their site has this feature), or direct to the Contact page to find the phone number, call them directly or add with their WeChat (in China, almost everyone uses their phone number to register Wechat account).
– In addition, to answer the question you asked, a good supplier will always provide you with extra valuable information, which will help you quickly get familiar with the industry rather than being just a machine that only answers questions you asked. So the best way is to check as many factories as possible, make comparisons and pick the most suitable one.
B.Find shades vendors on B2B platform
Apart from search engines like Google, you can also search the product names on B2B platforms such as Alibaba, Dhgate, Global source or Made in China. There will be thousands of corresponding suppliers with different qualifications for your choice. One way to identify reliable partners is to see their responsiveness and attitude when replying to your inquiries or purchasing requests on the RFQ page. A special reminder: do not solely identify a supplier by its rewarded titles and rankings as these rewards can be bought easily.
C: Fly to China and find a partner
It is the most direct way for you to talk to the suppliers face to face, see the real products, have a visit to the factory, and take a look at the production process. But apparently, this is not the best choice if you are a newcomer to the industry as it is too costly.
D: Optical fairs
Other than finding suppliers online and visiting factories directly in China, exhibitions are also a good platform to explore suppliers. Here are several major exhibitions in the eyewear industry, including the timetable and their location.
Canton Fair, Phase 2
Address: No. 382, Yuejiang Middle Road, Haizhu District, Guangzhou
Period: 23-27, April. 2021(Spring) and 23-27, October. 2021(Autumn)
Wenzhou optics fair(WOF)
Address: Wenzhou International Convention & Exhibition Center
Period: 18-20, September. 2020
Address: Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre
Period: 4-6, Nov.2020
Address: Rho-Pero,Milano,Italy
Period: 6-8, February. 2021
Address: 1, place de la Porte de Versailles 75015 Paris France
Period: 24-27, September. 2021
Where are the sunglass manufacturers in China
Eyewear products’ supply chain in China is mainly concentrated in three cities – Taizhou, Wenzhou, and Shenzhen. Each one of them has its own characteristics in types of glasses, qualities, and prices. When selecting a supplier you need to be clear which products are more in line with your expectations.
A. Taizhou Zhejiang
Taizhou is called the City of glasses. Around Duqiao Town, there are thousands of big or small glasses manufacturers and traders. Almost all glasses produced in Taizhou are exported to countries worldwide. The factories here produce a limited volume of optical frames and metal sunglasses, but they are best at making plastic sunglasses, which make the price lower. Thus, a lot of traders from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Shenzhen, and Xiamen order sunglasses from Taizhou for OEM.
B. Wenzhou Zhejiang
Wenzhou is also known for its glasses-making, the manufacturers and traders are mainly concentrated in Ouhai District. Unlike Taizhou city, Wenzhou has its strength in the production of metal glasses and lenses because the industry chain and technology have reached its maturity.
C. Shenzhen Guandong
Mainly concentrated in Longgang District, the factories mainly produce high-end plate glasses and high-end frame glasses. Very few of them produce sunglasses. In general, the price in Shenzhen is higher than Wenzhou and Taizhou as they make better products. In addition to that, higher labor costs and factory land costs in Shenzhen also raise the price of glasses.
How sunglasses are made
The best way to quickly understand a product is to see the production from zero to one in the factory. But if you’re new to this business and you have not yet planned to come to China, you can ask your supplier to send you a production video or have live video calls with them. The following video from GM Sunglasses will help you understand the whole procedure of sunglasses production.
Testing and certificates
As sunglasses are listed in Level 1 protecting products, you must provide the corresponding certificates or product test reports to the customer for their approval. The certificates will be provided by your suppliers. Please be noted that once they are provided by your supplier, verify the authenticity of these certificates on official websites. This is due to the fact that some factories may steal other certificates and change the information to their own company name. If this happens and was found by the customs, such irresponsible behavior will probably bring you a great deal of harm and the amount of fine may directly lead to bankruptcy.
Well, different countries have different document requirements for imported goods. Here are some examples of the requirements for corresponding certificates in different countries.
- US: FDA (Food and Drug Administration) certification, Drop Ball test report
- EU: EN ISO 12312-1 certification（CE Certificate)
- Australia: AS/NZS 1067:2003 certification
- Russia: GOST certification
Packing of products
For a particular product, a well-designed pack not only gives a pleasant feeling but also adds extra value to the product itself. One thing is that people are always willing to pay more for fine goods.
In regard to packaging materials, you can either find the factories that are able to manufacture or directly order from your glasses suppliers because they usually have a long-term relationship with packaging suppliers.
What are the sunglasses trends of 2021
As a company’s purchasing decision-maker or the business owner, it is very important to stay alert and grasp the future trends on designs for the next few months or years, which will lead to your final market share. Anyway, the following article roughly illustrates the possible designs that will lead the market in 2021.
Top 12 sunglasses trends for 2021 spring summer
To Conclude:
We hope this article may help you find a reliable Chinese glasses supplier successfully. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a message or send us an email directly. We will try our best to get back to you soon.
