I had no idea that the Ray-Ban brand had fallen sharply from it’s high-tone perch. Fortune.com published a recent post giving a short background on the slippage of Ray-Ban and the steps that its parent company, Luxottica, took to retool the luxury brand.

Luxottica, the Italian eyewear giant, purchased Baush & Lamb, which included Ray-Ban, in 1999 for $640 million. They immediately launched a vigorous turnaround strategy that resulted in a phenomenal comeback. According to the Fortune.com article, Luxottica’s strategy consisted of two phases:

• Phase 1 (early 2000’s): Better product, better stores
• Phase 2 (2003-2015): Expand Ray-Ban’s horizons

Here’s the post.

How Ray-Ban sunglasses recovered their luxury identity

Nowadays, Ray-Ban sunglasses can be found selling for as much as $300 at high-end stores like Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus. The brand recently opened its first ever flagship store, a sleek emporium in the heart of Manhattan’s shopping mecca, SoHo. And if you walk around capitals like London, Paris and Milan, it seems like anyone remotely stylish is sporting the shades. Read the rest of the post… fortune.com

Tough decisions were made, but obviously the company’s leaders maintained their sights on the vision of restoring, and expanding, the luster of this iconic brand. Ray-Bans are iconic sunglasses, from the famed Aviators worn by General MacArthur to the Manhattan style made famous by Audrey Hepburn.

The overall business lesson in this story is that all is not lost even when you think it is. But, you just have invest energy, time, and resources to turn a brand or any situation around.