Key Takeaways
- ✦Factory price ladder by material: basic plastic/polycarbonate $0.80–1.80, TR90 $2.50–5.00, standard acetate $3–8, metal $5–14, Italian acetate $8–18, titanium $12–22 — all at 500+ piece quantities
- ✦Quantity discounts: unit costs drop 30–40% when scaling from 100 to 1,000 pieces — the single biggest pricing lever is order volume
- ✦Lens cost add-ons: basic UV400 adds $1–2, polarized TAC adds $3–5, polarized CR-39 adds $5–8, photochromic adds $5–10 — lenses can cost more than the frame itself
- ✦Retail markup standard: 3–5x landed cost for mass market ($6 landed = $18–30 retail), with premium branding and packaging enabling 6–10x markup ($6 landed = $36–60 retail)
- ✦Beware of 'acetate' quotes below $3/pair — real acetate costs more than that; at $2.40/pair you are getting polycarbonate painted to look like acetate
- ✦For first-time brand buyers: 500 pieces is the volume sweet spot — good unit pricing, manageable shipping costs, and enough inventory to test multiple styles without overcommitting
Wholesale Sunglasses Pricing: What These Actually Cost to Make
A client from Sydney once forwarded me a quote from another factory. He wanted to know if he was getting a good deal. The quote was $2.40 per pair for acetate wayfarers. I looked at it for about three seconds and told him: “These are not acetate. They are polycarbonate painted to look like acetate.” He ordered samples anyway. When they arrived, the “acetate” frames bent like wet cardboard. He ended up placing his order with us.
I am going to do something most factories will not do: tell you exactly what sunglasses cost to make. Not “send us an inquiry for pricing.” Not “it depends.” Real numbers, based on 20 years of running a factory and quoting thousands of orders. If you are trying to figure out whether a quote is fair, or you are planning your first brand and need to budget, this is for you.
The Material Price Ladder
The single biggest factor in what a pair of sunglasses costs is the frame material. Everything else — lenses, coatings, packaging — gets added on top. Here is what different materials cost at the factory, based on real quotes I give to clients:
Basic Plastic / Polycarbonate
$0.80 – $1.80Injection-molded. Lightweight, cheap, gets the job done. This is what you see in convenience stores, promotional giveaways, and beach vendors. At 10,000+ pieces, the price drops below $0.80. Most factories do not bother with these because the margin is razor thin and the quality ceiling is low. Good for one-off promotional campaigns, not for building a brand.
TR90 Nylon
$4.00 – $7.00Lightweight, flexible, memory-retaining. If you bend a TR90 frame, it snaps back to shape. Popular for sport and active lifestyle brands. Our TR90 line runs 24/7 during peak season and we still struggle to keep up with demand. At 1,000 pieces you are looking at around $5/pair. The same frame at 100 pieces is $7.
Acetate
$5.50 – $12.00The premium plastic. Acetate is plant-based, hypoallergenic, and takes color beautifully. You can get tortoiseshell patterns, marbled effects, translucent layers — things you cannot do with injection molding. Italian Mazzucchelli acetate adds about $2/pair but lets you charge $20-30 more at retail because you can legitimately say “Italian acetate” in your marketing. Most of our mid-to-premium clients use acetate.
Stainless Steel
$7.50 – $14.00This is what most metal aviators are made of. The manufacturing process is completely different from plastic — CNC wire bending, micro-welding, PVD electroplating for the finish. More labor-intensive, which means higher cost but also a more premium feel. Gold and rose gold PVD finishes cost a bit more than silver or black because the plating materials are pricier.
Titanium / Beta-Titanium
$14.00 – $22.00The top shelf. Titanium frames weigh about 15 grams — you genuinely forget you are wearing them. Hypoallergenic, corrosion-proof, nearly indestructible. The raw material is expensive (titanium costs about 8x what stainless steel costs per kilogram) and it is harder to work with — you need specialized welding equipment. But if you want to sell sunglasses at $150+, this is how you justify it.
Prices are EXW (ex-works) — meaning the cost at our factory door. Logo customization, packaging, and shipping are additional. Prices assume standard UV400 lenses; lens upgrades add to the cost.
Lens Upgrades: What They Add
Standard UV400 lenses are included in the base prices above. If you want something fancier, here is what it adds per pair:
Polarized is the upgrade I recommend most often. It adds maybe $1.50 per pair and lets you charge $10-15 more at retail. The math is too good to ignore. My clients who launch with polarized sell out faster and reorder bigger.
Three Real Orders, Three Real Price Tags
The startup brand. A couple in Toronto launched a minimalist eyewear brand last year. First order: 200 pairs of Italian acetate with polarized TAC lenses, custom logo, and premium packaging. Factory cost: about $12.50/pair. With DHL shipping and Canadian duties, landed at around $14/pair. They sell at $89-99 on their Shopify store. They sold out in six weeks. Second order was 500 pairs.
The volume distributor. A wholesaler in Florida supplies beach shops and gas stations across the Southeast. They order 5,000 standard plastic wayfarers at a time. Factory cost: $1.20/pair. Sea freight: $0.15/pair. They wholesale to retailers at $3.50, and the retailers sell at $9.99. It is not glamorous but it is consistent — they have been reordering the same SKU for four years.
The promotional campaign. A beverage brand needed 10,000 branded sunglasses for a summer festival tour. Basic plastic frames with pad-printed logo. Factory cost: $0.85/pair. They gave them away free at events. Cost per impression (assuming the average person wore them 10+ times that summer): fractions of a cent. Promotional sunglasses are not high fashion, but for brand exposure at scale, nothing beats them.
I quote orders like these every day. If you tell me your style, quantity, and what market you are selling into, I will send you a real price breakdown within 24 hours — no “contact us for pricing” games.
Get an Actual Price Quote