Abstract
This paper begins with a discussion of the following three innovations that had a powerful influence on the eyewear districts of Japan and Italy: "Titanium Eyewear Frames", developed in Sabae, Fukui, world-wide "Distribution Domination" instigated in Belluno, Italy and the idea of turning eyewear into "Fashion Items". There follows an analysis of how these innovations positively and negatively affected the two eyewear-producing districts. The movement to make eyewear into "Fashion Items" will be here termed "Fashion Innovation", and the implications of the movement will be examined. Japanese companies are now under pressure to shift from process innovation to product innovation, but there is a limit to innovation, as it pursues only visible hardware quality and features. In this sense, the "Fashion Innovation" undertaken by companies in Belluno, Italy is a classic and simple case of best practice that deals with the acquisition of competitive advantage.
