Foster Grant
| Type | Subsidiary of FGX International |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1919 |
| Founder(s) | Sam Foster |
| Headquarters | Smithfield, Rhode Island, USA |
| Products | Eyewear and Sunglasses |
| Website | fostergrant.com |
Foster Grant, or FosterGrant, is a brand of eyewear founded by Sam Foster in 1919. The FosterGrant brand is a subsidiary company of FGX International, a consumer goods wholesaler with headquarters in Smithfield, Rhode Island, USA, which has been owned by Essilor since 2010.[1]
Foster Grant's original production line was ladies' hair accessories; over the company's lifetime they also produced other plastic materials including heart-lung pumps.[2]
Advertising
Foster Grant's 1960s sunglasses ad campaign "Who's that behind those Foster Grants?," by the Geer, Dubois advertising agency, included celebrities Peter Sellers, Louis Jourdan, Carroll Baker, Claudia Cardinale, Elke Sommer, Anita Ekberg, Vittorio Gassman, Anthony Quinn, Mia Farrow, Robert Goulet, Julie Christie, Woody Allen, OJ Simpson, Raquel Welch, Terence Stamp, Clayton Moore, and Vanessa Redgrave.[3]
That famous ad campaign was reintroduced around the year 2000 with model Cindy Crawford and race car driver Jeff Gordon.
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 in measured media on consumer television advertising in 2009. The ads were created by Ferrara & Co. of Princeton, New Jersey and produced by television director Bob Giraldi.
Foster Grant launched television commercials in 2010, once again including Hollywood icon Raquel Welch.
Pop culture
- referenced in the song "Tomorrow's Woman" in Grey Gardens (musical) which opened on Broadway in November 2006. Lyrics: "...with a scarf in our hair, Foster Grants for the glare..."
- referenced in the title track of The New Pornographers' album Mass Romantic. "Mass romantic fool wears Foster Grants..."
- featured in the song "Nighthawk Postcards (From Easy Street)" by Tom Waits "...Dressed up in Purina Checkerboard slacks and Foster Grant wraparounds..."
- referenced in the movie That Thing You Do!, when drummer Guy puts on a pair of sunglasses and calls himself "Percussionist Foster Grant."
- referenced in movie Midnight Run, where Jack (Robert De Niro) makes fun of the FBI agents' sunglasses, at one point calling Mosely (Yaphet Kotto) "Agent Foster Grant."
- referenced in the opening line of the song "Otis and Marlena" by Joni Mitchell on her album Don Juan's Reckless Daughter. "Marlena under Foster Grants, She's undercover from the dawn's advance..."
References
- ↑ FGX International expansion approved, Gerry Goldstein, Valley Breeze & Observer, 2 January 2013]
- ↑ Foster Grant Collection, Syracuse University
- ↑ Foster Grant • History (archived 2003)
External links
- Foster Grant Collection -- company publications, sales material, photographs, etc. from World War II era and later
- Official website