Our Story

Have you ever wondered why a pair of sunglasses costs as much as a weekend getaway?
Yeah… me too.

I didn’t question it much until early 2025, when I was packing for a golf trip. I reached into the bottom pocket of my bag and found my $300 sunglasses—now sporting a fresh, deep scratch courtesy of whatever junk accompanied it.

It wasn’t the first time something like that had happened. And at that point, I had to ask myself:
Why am I replacing expensive glasses that go out of style next year and I just perpetually destroy.

I cursed the establishment, hoped on amazon and bought a pair of glasses that look decent under 50 buck. They arrived… and the quality matched the price. The lenses were terrible, the frames were flimsy, the fit was questionable at best.

But here’s what really got me: they weren’t that different from the $300 pair.
Same basic parts. Same hinges. Same weight.
One was just priced like rent.

After the trip (Mexico), and some recovery, I dug deeper.

The Industry No One Talks About

A few late-night rabbit holes later, I learned the truth: the eyewear industry is controlled by one mega company. All those “different” brands? The ones we grew up thinking were independent, cool, or local?

All owned by the same corporation, no joke, its actually wild, ask chat gpt. Here you don’t even have to type it. “Tell me about the one company that owns the eyewear industry”.

Wild eh? 

They control the design, distribution, manufacturing, retail—everything. And they inflate prices because they can. When you’re the only game in town, who’s going to stop you?

Suddenly, the $300 price tag made a lot more sense.

The Breakthrough Moment

As my Amazon glasses expired and summer was approaching fast I continued to an off brand, high quality reasonably priced pair of glasses. One where if the style changed next year, or I destroyed them again I wouldn’t fee to bad about getting a new pair next year. Googling “Canadian eyewear brand”, notta. Actually, the only Canadian eyewear brand that made a momentum was bought out by you know who and shut down the next day.

What else I found in my search, was an ad labelled: “Canadian Eyewear distributer for sale – In business 50 plus years”

A little research and I saw the solution to my glasses problem! (and everyone elses)

This amazing family owned business was supplying Canadian retailers with eyewear to resell to the consumer. 
These were the same manufacturers that produce for the big brands.
The same factories.
The same equipment.
The same relationships… without the inflated price tags.

Everything clicked.

In a quick 30 day close, I took over Boléro Eyewear—determined to build something better.

What We’re Building

We took the best styles we could find and upgraded them with the features that actually matter:

• Metal-core frames
• Spring hinges
• Premium polarized and non-polarized lenses
• Custom designs made in the same factories as the “luxury” brands
• And price points for everyone and every style.

The difference?
We price everything as low as humanly possible — not because we’re cutting corners, but because we refuse to play the monopoly’s game.

For far too long, people have paid $300 for a piece of plastic with a fashionable logo slapped on the side. We’re done with that. And you should be too.

The Mission

Our goal is simple:

Make great eyewear accessible.
Expose the markup.
Deliver premium quality without the premium price.

We’re just getting started, but we’re building a new kind of eyewear brand — one rooted in honesty, transparency, and giving a damn.

Welcome to Boléro.
Let’s change the industry together.

 

- Parker Coulter

 

Questions, not seeing what you want, just want to say hey. Shoot me an email - parker@vpicanada.com.