Glasses do not feature much in the photographs of the board members of Inspecs, which is striking because the company sold more than ten million frames last year.
Inspecs, based in Bath, makes spectacles to its own designs as well as for brands such as Radley, Superdry, Ted Baker and Lulu Guinness. It sells to 70,000 shops and opticians in 80-plus countries. And after people had stared at themselves on screens during lockdown video calls, sales boomed once restrictions were loosened. Turnover at the firm soared to $246.5 million (£203 million) in 2021, up from $47.4 million in Covid-splattered 2020.
Inspecs’ shares reacted accordingly: having fallen to 147p in April 2020 when shops were shut, they rose to a near record 404p in the