A survey commissioned by Sightsavers and People’s Postcode Lottery, which works with the charity, said that overall, 26% of British men spend more than £100 on a pair of sunglasses, although only 14% of British women do the same. And 54% of men own two or three pairs, slightly ahead of the 50% of women who own that many.But the biggest spenders come into the 25 to 34 age bracket, spending £145 per pair, as mentioned above.

Almost all Britons (90%) wear sunglasses at some point, but the survey showed that only 40% do so in order to protect their eyes from UV damage. In fact, 30% are completely unaware of the damage that UV can do and a massive 69% don’t know that it can cause cataracts, a problem affecting 65 million people around the world.And in addition to the sunglass wearers who are unaware of the problems, 15% of people in the UK can’t see the point of sunglasses and 17% think they’re a waste of money.It’s interesting as well that only 28% of consumers buy their sunglasses from an optician and that when they do, they expect to spend less. They spend £86 on average when buying from an eye specialist but are happy to spend more than £160 when buying from big-name brands.