Lenskart's John Jacobs teams up with S&N by Shantnu Nikhil to bring couture eyewear to festive and wedding shoppers, showing why designer collaborations suit India's fast-growing eyewear market.
India’s eyewear market is estimated at 1.12 lakh crore in 2026, says IMARC’s October update, up from 1.06 lakh crore in 2025.
Lenskart’s premium label John Jacobs has joined S&N by Shantnu Nikhil for a 32-piece collection, the couturiers’ first eyewear venture, on Lenskart’s shelves this festive season.
Abhimanyu Mishra, AVP, John Jacobs, said in a release, “What sets this collaboration apart is the interplay of classic silhouettes, considered materials and signature details.”
Organised players hold only 24% of this market.
Lenskart, Titan Eye+, GKB Opticals and EssilorLuxottica lead, while unorganised opticians hold 76%.
Founded in 2010, Lenskart was backed by SoftBank, KKR, Temasek, ADIA and Kedaara, with SoftBank’s 2019 Series G alone worth 1,652 crore, before turning profitable in FY25.
It listed on 10 November 2025 after a 28-times-subscribed IPO; Q2 FY27 revenue grew 36% to 2,845 crore and profit more than doubled to 232 crore.
Lenskart’s India network now spans 2,868 stores across 665 cities, with 756 stores overseas, and its paid Gold loyalty programme has crossed 1 crore active members.
Its core shoppers are young urban Indians, largely 18 to 35; LASIK and SMILE surgeries remain a flagged risk to spectacle demand.
For S&N, present in 10 cities, the tie-up borrows Lenskart’s reach of 665 cities, entering eyewear without building a single optical store.
For John Jacobs, couture credibility should lift festive and wedding sales, while Lenskart Gold’s 1 crore members give every launch a ready, repeat audience.
For shoppers, Lenskart’s prices run 35% to 40% below industry averages, per Redseer, making designer frames a realistic wedding-season purchase.
Editor’s Note
Designer collaborations are the cheapest customer acquisition in retail: the designer brings a following, the retailer brings the shelf, and neither pays for the other’s footfall.
Watch the repeat cycle next. A Gold member who buys a couture frame for a wedding is likely to return for lenses, sunglasses and the next capsule.
India’s eyewear aisle is slowly becoming a wardrobe aisle.
Expect more couture names to move in, and more Indian faces to be framed with real intent.
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