Is it just Branding?
I lost my sunglasses in Home Depot the other day. I think they were $300 Ray-Ban's, but I got them from the Outlet store for $150. Or something like that.
They were nice glasses, but I must have been feeling the sun that day - $150?
So this time I went to Target, expecting to find some "good enough" glasses. Instead I found my new Ray-Ban clones for $15, and bought two pairs. They are more comfortable than my old ones, look just as good and also cut out 100% UV (more "marketing" or real science?)
Are multi-hundred $$ glasses really better, or is it just branding?
I think everyone's being duped by Ray-Ban, Revo, Oakley etc. Go to Target instead; no-one will know.
Gripe: Try to find some sunglasses you like on www.rayban.com - an excellent example of a completely useless flash web site.