A boom in sunglasses sales has been recorded as the UK sweltered earlier this year.

Market research firm GfK believes that £18.9m worth in sales was made through opticians in the second quarter of 2010, achieving a three-year record as temperatures in the UK soared to a four-year month-on-month high.

May 2010 saw record sales of sunglasses through optical practices, with in excess of 87,800 sold, the research company believes, at a value of £7.4m, the highest levels since May 2007 when 103,000 pairs were sold, worth £9.4m.

GfK claims that the start of the summer has seen a continued trend in favour of women’s sunglasses ahead of unisex models, with two-in-five shades sold being those manufactured specifically for ‘the female demographic’.

Within the women’s category plastic models continue to account for an increasing proportion of sales at with 91%.

However, GfK goes on to report that in the second quarter of 2010 the ophthalmic frames market has continues to decline. The sector totalled £208.5m sales, a fall of 4.3% in value compared to the same period in 2009, and a drop of 13.7% when measured against the same period in 2008.

Nevertheless, market analysis of individual months reveals mixed performance in different periods.

In May 2010 the frames market achieved the highest level of volume sales since March 2009, and in doing so recording the strongest year-on-year growth (+4.4%, volume sales, May 2009-10) in the last 10 months. In terms of frames, those selling at less than £45 and above £220 experienced the most significant growth, +55.8% and +48.5% respectively during the May 2009-10 period.

Despite the market returning to decline in June (-10.6%, June 2009-10) the less than £45 and more than £220 price segments proved more resilient, recording year-on-year growth rates at +60.4% and +26.3% respectively (June 2009-10).

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