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Eric Buscemi reported some "shady" news from the world of fashion earlier today, as Italian company Luxottica Group SpA (NYSE: LUX) has made a $2.1 billion bid for U.S. sunglasses manufacturer Oakley (NYSE: OO).

Luxottica already has the Prada and Ray-Ban brands under its umbrella, so adding OO, which offers an upscale line of high-performance sunglasses and goggles, seems like a shrewd and sensible move. It seems as though the collective's primary "competition" these days is the man on the street ... quite literally!

Oakley is one of those brands, like Prada - or Coach (NYSE: COH) - of which poorly fashioned knock-offs are easily found lining the street corners of major cities. A little haggling, some sweet talking, and the right amount of cash can outfit a New York City or Las Vegas tourist with the cream of the fraudulent crop.

My husband's stepfather was once given a pair of Oakley sunglasses, which he thought to be genuine product until closely examining the "brand" name that read... O4kely. Whoops. You get what you pay for, and eyeglasses are more fragile - and more vital - than handbags, so those looking for quality will continue to pay for it. And in my experience (and my stepfather-in-law's), once you've had one knock-off, you're not likely to continue the ruse. The combined cache of these brands should make Luxottica quite the name to be reckoned with in the trendy eyewear industry.

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

Oakley's future's so bright, it's gotta wear shades originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 21 Jun 2007 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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