Foster Grant, or FosterGrant, is an American brand of eyewear founded by Sam Foster in 1919. The Foster Grant brand is a subsidiary company of FGX International, a

consumer goods A final good or consumer good is a final product ready for sale that is used by the consumer to satisfy current wants or needs, unlike a intermediate good, which is used to produce other goods. A microwave oven or a bicycle is a final good, b ...

wholesale Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. In ...

r with headquarters in

Smithfield, Rhode Island Smithfield is a town that is located in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. It includes the historic villages of Esmond, Georgiaville, Mountaindale, Hanton City, Stillwater and Greenville. The population was 22,118 at the 2020 cens ...

, which has been owned by

Essilor Essilor International is a French-based international ophthalmic optics company that designs, manufactures and markets lenses to correct or protect eyesight. Its headquarters is in Charenton-le-Pont (near Paris), France. It is the world's larg ...

since 2010.

History

In 1919 in

Leominster, Massachusetts Leominster ( ) is a city in Worcester County, Massachusetts, Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the second-largest city in Worcester County, with a population of 43,782 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Leominster i ...

, Sam Foster left his employer, the pioneering plastics manufacturer Viscoloid, to form his own plastics company in a former

industrial laundry Laundry refers to the washing of clothing and other textiles, and, more broadly, their drying and ironing as well. Laundry has been part of history since humans began to wear clothes, so the methods by which different cultures have dealt with ...

. In the 1850s,

celluloid Celluloids are a class of materials produced by mixing nitrocellulose and camphor, often with added dyes and other agents. Once much more common for its use as photographic film before the advent of safer methods, celluloid's common contemporary ...

was invented as a substitute for substances such as

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals i ...

and

tortoiseshell Tortoiseshell or tortoise shell is a material produced from the shells of the larger species of tortoise and turtle, mainly the hawksbill sea turtle, which is a critically endangered species according to the IUCN Red List largely because of its ...

. One major use for the new substance was in the production of hair combs, and this was Foster's first major product. Foster Grant's original production line was ladies' hair accessories; over the company's lifetime, they have also produced other plastic materials, including heart-lung pumps. In 1931, Foster Grant purchased the first plastics injection molding machine to be imported from Europe, however the machine arrived in non-working condition. Grant and a team of experts worked for several years to make the machine functional and reliable.

Sunglasses

In the 1920s, Hollywood actresses (featured on celluloid film) started wearing shorter hairstyles. These became popular, causing a collapse in the market for combs, and threatening Foster Grant. However, the development of injection molding technology made it possible to produce mass market celluloid sunglasses. Sales rapidly increased with Hollywood stars featuring in advertising campaigns, and the company became a major player in the sunglasses' industry. Foster Grant's 1960s and 1970s sunglasses

ad campaign An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ideas, beliefs, and conc ...

"Who's that behind those Foster Grants?", included celebrities

Peter Sellers Peter Sellers (born Richard Henry Sellers; 8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) was an English actor and comedian. He first came to prominence performing in the BBC Radio comedy series ''The Goon Show'', featured on a number of hit comic songs ...

Louis Jourdan Louis Jourdan (born Louis Robert Gendre; 19 June 1921 – 14 February 2015) was a French film and television actor. He was known for his suave roles in several Hollywood films, including Alfred Hitchcock's ''The Paradine Case'' (1947), '' Lett ...

Carroll Baker Carroll Baker (born May 28, 1931) is an American former actress. After studying under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio, Baker began performing on Broadway in 1954. From there, she was recruited by director Elia Kazan to play the lead in t ...

Claudia Cardinale Claude Joséphine Rose "Claudia" Cardinale (; born 15 April 1938) is an Italian actress. She has starred in some of the most iconic European films of the 1960s and 1970s, acting in Italian, French, and English. Born and raised in La Goulette, a ...

, Elke Sommer,

Anita Ekberg Kerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg (; 29 September 193111 January 2015) was a Swedish actress active in American and European films, known for her beauty and stunning figure. She became prominent in her iconic role as Sylvia in the Federico Fellini ...

Vittorio Gassman Vittorio Gassman (; born Gassmann; 1 September 1922 – 29 June 2000), popularly known as , was an Italian actor, director and screenwriter. He is considered one of the greatest Italian actors, whose career includes both important productions ...

Anthony Quinn Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca (April 21, 1915 – June 3, 2001), known professionally as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican-American actor. He was known for his portrayal of earthy, passionate characters "marked by a brutal and elemental v ...

Mia Farrow Maria de Lourdes Villiers "Mia" Farrow ( ; born February 9, 1945) is an American actress. She first gained notice for her role as Allison MacKenzie in the television soap opera '' Peyton Place'' and gained further recognition for her subsequent ...

, Robert Goulet,

Julie Christie Julie Frances Christie (born 14 April 1940) is a British actress. An icon of the Swinging Sixties, Christie is the recipient of numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She ...

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

, O. J. Simpson,

Raquel Welch Jo Raquel Welch ( Tejada; September 5, 1940) is an American actress. She first won attention for her role in '' Fantastic Voyage'' (1966), after which she won a contract with 20th Century Fox. They lent her contract to the British studio Hamm ...

Terence Stamp Terence Henry Stamp (born 22 July 1938) is an English actor. Stamp is known for his sophisticated villain roles. He was named by ''Empire Magazine'' as one of the 100 Sexiest Film Stars of All Time in 1995. He has received various accolades inc ...

Clayton Moore Clayton Moore (born Jack Carlton Moore, September 14, 1914 – December 28, 1999) was an American actor best known for playing the fictional western character the Lone Ranger from 1949 to 1952 and 1953 to 1957 on the television series of the sa ...

, and

Vanessa Redgrave Dame Vanessa Redgrave (born 30 January 1937) is an English actress and activist. Throughout her career spanning over seven decades, Redgrave has garnered numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Television Award, tw ...

. That ad campaign was reintroduced around the year 2000 with model

Cindy Crawford Cynthia Ann Crawford (born February 20, 1966) is an American model, actress and television personality. During the 1980s and 1990s, she was among the most popular supermodels and a ubiquitous presence on magazine covers, runways, as well as fash ...

and race car driver

Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick M ...

. Beginning in January 2009, Raquel Welch was the star of a national television advertising campaign for the Foster Grant Reading Glasses collection. FGX International spent over $12 million on television advertising in 2009. The ads were created by Ferrara & Co. of

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

and produced by television director Bob Giraldi. Foster Grant launched television commercials in 2010, once again with actress

. Today, the brand is represented by the Hollywood actress and philanthropist

Kat Graham Katerina Alexandre Hartford Graham (born September 5, 1989) is an American actress, singer and dancer (now distributing music under the stage name Toro Gato). She is widely known for her role as Bonnie Bennett on The CW supernatural drama ser ...

. In 2018, FGX International, the parent company of Foster Grant, acquired Indiana-based One Click Ventures. One Click Ventures is parent company to eyewear brands Readers.com, Sunglass Warehouse, and felix+iris. In 2019, Foster Grant began selling on Sunglass Warehouse's website. Foster Grant is a subsidiary of FGX International, which is in turn a subsidiary of

EssilorLuxottica EssilorLuxottica SA is a French vertically integrated multinational corporation based in Paris and founded on 1 October 2018 from the merger of the Italian Luxottica with the French Essilor. The group designs, produces and markets ophthalmic lens ...

References

{{reflist

External links

Foster Grant Collection
��company publications, sales material, photographs, etc. from World War II era and later
Official website
Essilor Eyewear brands of the United States American companies established in 1919 Manufacturing companies established in 1919 1919 establishments in Massachusetts Eyewear companies of the United States