Garrett Leight choose Los Angeles’ Eastside for third store in the city

By

Chenu Alexis

Published
Jun 6, 2023

At Sunset Junction, in Silver Lake, the fashion market is regularly on the move. After the arrival of mainstream brands such as Madewell, and more recently Sku California, the closure of multi-brand General Admission, and the soon-to-be-announced opening of Neighborhood Goods next door to Byredo, eyewear manufacturer Garrett Leight is taking over the Eastside of Los Angeles. 

The third boutique for the brand in the city, following those in Venice and La Brea, the new Garrett Leigt California Optical (GLCO) store opening coincides with the expansion plan of The Untitled group, which invested two million dollars in 2021 in exchange for a majority share of the company.
 
Next door to the Kitsuné boutique, and just a hundred yards from its competitor and eyewear brand Warby Parker, the new Garrett Leight space opens up around a beautiful wood counter, offers a technical lab, hundreds of eyeglasses posing on the shelves, a selection of vinyl records, Pete Johnson's skateboard-themed photo book and sunglasses created in collaboration with Miles Davis Estate.

"I've always dreamed of having a store in both the West and the East (of Angeles). We opened our first store in Venice in 2009, and it always made sense to open a store in the East," explained Garrett Leight. "East and West are far apart, but they attract the same creative communities. Here, they'll find a different retail experience, one that never feels like a shopping experience but more like a neighborhood place where we can talk about music, fashion, arts. The people who work in our stores act as concierges, knowing what's going on in the city, where to shop and eat. Talking to an optician who knows the science of eyewear and a cool fashion style, makes us feel a bit special."

Following The Untitled Group's general plan to open 15 stores in the United States and internationally by 2025, the Garrett Leight brand has expanded into Canada and may soon turn its attention to Europe.

"Canada was a challenging market as we had to build the brand from the beginning", added Leight. "Eventually, we would like to open international stores as Sydney, Tokyo, London and Paris. We already have a very large wholesaler business in Europe with more around 1,600 to 1,800 stockists with Germany as our first market. We are not ready yet for the Asian market but it's part of our global strategy."
 
At the Silver Lake boutique, consumers can discover the main Garrett Leight line, with models priced between $300 and $500. "Saving people's money while offering great quality, is great," adds Leight. "The Chinese and Japanese factories we have chosen are the best equipped in the world, and to produce elsewhere would increase the price of our eyewear by 20% to 30%. We don't shy away from offering exceptional, more expensive products, with numbered, uniquely designed glasses, as we do with the Mr Leight line, but our priority remains to be accessible to people. There will always be some customers who are interested in buying Chrome Hearts $100,000 sunglass, or a rare item from a Supreme drop, but our goal is somewhere else."

Garrett Leight brand's growth could continue in the coming years. By 2025, the global eyewear market is expected to exceed $150 billion.