Ugly Glasses
We have become known around town as the “No Ugly Glasses” people. This is due to the sandwich board we have sitting behind our building. It reads-
Ugly Glasses NOT Sold Here
It started out in the simplest of fashion- we didn’t have anything better to write on it. It was a tongue-in-cheek, sideways glance of a comment. Two things happened. The first was, people walking through the door with a smile on their faces asking if we sold ugly glasses. The second was a realization of how this silly comment was actually the basis of how we got started.
Over the past decade or so, this industry has seen a major shifty towards commoditization. It started with Big Box Optical, then opticals in larger stores, and then the folks telling the world it would be better for you to mail-order your glasses. But for this to work with any sort of efficiency and without the need to hire professionals at a high skill level, the fundamental business would have to be made much simpler. The key to this is to reduce variables (your product options) while simultaneously appearing to have a large, comprehensive selection. Reducing variables and large selection are diametrically opposing concepts. But not if there’s little variety in that large selection. You feel that you’re being offered many choices, but find that the choices don’t vary much.
So how did this come to be?
Two words- vertical integration. This is what you call it when you make it from raw materials and ultimately sell it to the end user by owning the entire chain. A great deal of the industry is controlled by a very small number of companies. They own the manufacturing of frames and the lenses. They own the retail outlets- even if you visit a provider in a big-box retail store, or a small doctor’s office it’s them. They also own vision insurance companies that serve to steer you to their locations. “OK, but what about my corner eye doctor?” These large corporations provide small practices with virtually turn-key inventory supply and management, freeing the doctor to concentrate on the delivery of heath care. And it’s the same eyewear that you find in the big-box stores. We call it Corporate Eyewear.
In large measure, shoppers have resigned themselves to-
“Everything is the same product everywhere. Why even look around?”
Here’s an interesting element to this whole issue- Designer Eyewear. If you jump back a little bit, we talked about this monolithic selection of eyeglass frames in the big-box store. How do you know which one to select? Which one’s are of dependable quality? The most common retail paradigm for signaling quality is known name brands. And in this space, that’s going to be notable fashion designers. In virtually every case, the names you see are licensed from that designer. And in many instances, they’re mostly not involved in the design, certainly not in the production. In some cases, the name was purchased outright. People are surprised to find the most notable eyewear brand, an American institution and the best-known sunglass brand in the world, bears the name of a company that sold off almost a quarter century ago. Branding works. But why is this bad? It adds cost. Fashion brands are a $1.2 trillion industry. They’re not loaning these name out. So how much of that price is the frame and how much is the name? It’s not small. And then there’s quality and origin of manufacture, with a good deal of it coming from countries with questionable human rights issues.
Sound far-fetched? Hear it directly from the CEO of the largest one-
So what does the UGLY in Ugly Glasses really mean? Well, in some cases it means what it says. But in most, it’s a lack of style, character and definition. They may reflect the stylistic themes of their parent brand, but never to a point of being unique. But mostly, the Ugly comes from a disconnect between the frame and the wearer. If the frame is too big, too small, has an improper sized bridge, the temples are too long, is a not-complimentary shape or color, it’s typicality not going to be an ideal look. We often say, “You can love the frame. It won’t necessarily love you back”. Is it really UGLY? Probably not. But it’s also not going to be all that attractive. Let’s politely call it “somewhere in between”.
So how is it that we don’t carry “Ugly Eyewear”? We start by carrying a number of exceptionally constructed brands from around the world. Each of these is unique to itself. This is why we display them separated by brand. They each have a unique look and feel. These elements are primarily relative to the origin. Boutique French eyewear is going to have a completely different vibe than pieces originating from Japan. A frame designed by 30-something’s in Brooklyn, NY is going to have a completely different character than that which is produced in Knightsbridge, London. And we carry a veritable world tour of eyewear.
Even then, it’s possible to end up in “ugly” eyewear. Although we will do our best to stop you. We pride ourselves on being able to help you find exactly the eyewear you’re looking for. Even if you don’t know what that is. We go to great lengths to help you identify the most complimentary pieces that express you and your style. Whether it’s a low-key synergistic look, a fashionable, forward look or “I’M WEARING GLASSES!!”, we can guide you through shapes and colors, but more importantly, the fit. Things like proportionality and pupil framing. We work to guide away from looking at frames and to looking at frames on your face. Looking at what they do and why. What’s complimentary and what clashes. The small elements that take a frame from OK to not bad to flawless.
We have an expression we often use here. It’s-
“We have several thousand frames. The vast majority will be the wrong size, shape, color or fit for you. We know where the rest of them are.”
Let us guide you through a world of style and quality usually not found outside of major fashion centers. Let us work to find you the exact look that reflects your sensibilities and your lifestyle. And let us remove the frustration from the process.
