Is it worth buying Tom Ford frames? We take a close look at the luxury eyewear brand
Once upon a time, eyewear was considered more of a hassle than a fashion statement. People who wore glasses were generally picked on, and sunglasses were only worn when it was too bright to see. But nowadays, eyewear is one of the biggest fashion markets in the world, with a number of high-end brands creating stylish and expensive eyewear frames.
One such brand is Tom Ford, which has emerged in recent years as one of the biggest brands in the eyewear space. But are the frames from Tom Ford actually worth buying? We decided to take a close look at Tom Ford frames and the brand to see if they're worth your money, let's get into it:
How much are Tom Ford frames?
For example, in our local branch of Vision Express, we found Tom Ford frames listed for between £280 and £340. This was more than both Gucci frames, which were listed between £240 and £300, and Giorgio Armani frames, which were also listed between £240 and £300. So on average at Vision Express, you could expect to be paying an extra £40 for a pair of Tom Ford frames, even compared to some of the biggest fashion brands in the world.
How does Tom Ford justify this high price for its frames?
Despite the high price of the Tom Ford frames, it was actually quite hard to find any justification for the high price on the Tom Ford website. There isn't much information about how the frames are made or what they're made from.
However, there is plenty of information about the Tom Ford brand and the celebrities who have worn Tom Ford frames and sunglasses - for example, it is mentioned on the 'About' page of the Tom Ford website that the Tom Ford brand has worked with people such as Beyonce Knowles.
Based on all of this information, it's our suspicion that the high prices of the Tom Ford frames have less to do with the quality of the frames and more to do with the celebrities who have been spotted wearing them.
The same is true for the Tom Ford sunglasses - if you sort the Tom Ford website from lowest price to highest price, the cheapest men's sunglasses you can currently buy from the brand cost £235. The cheapest men's sunglasses you can currently buy from the Gucci website cost £185.
What are the third-party reviews like for Tom Ford frames?
We like to refer to third-party reviews for our review guides as it's great to see what other customers think of the brands we're looking at, and we found a Trustpilot profile for Tom Ford. This profile hasn't been verified by the brand so there are no replies to any of the reviews on the profile. Tom Ford is currently sitting with a 'Poor' rating of 1.8 out of 5 from more than 90 reviews, which is a very bad rating. Most of the reviews seem to note that when the Tom Ford eyewear breaks, it's very hard to get an answer from the customer service team about why it has happened and what help you can get, which doesn't make for great reading.
So, are Tom Ford frames worth buying?
Overall we'd say that if you're looking for a well-made pair of glasses then it isn't really worth spending money on Tom Ford frames - they cost quite a bit more than even the most high-end brands, and we can't see how Tom Ford frames are any better.
Having said, if fashion is your main concern then perhaps it makes sense for you to spend a lot of money on Tom Ford frames.
What do you think of Tom Ford frames? Let us know if you think they're worth buying and any other thoughts you have in the comments below.
Finn H
Finn is the editor of You Well and has been writing about travel, health, and more for over 10 years.